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Essays On The Book Of Revelation Providing A Key To Its
Understanding
With
Commentary
A Preterist
Interpretation
Section A. Outlining The
Problems
I.
Introduction
p.1
II.
The Broad
Canvas
p.2
A.
Historicist
p.2
B.
Dispensational/Futurist
p.2
B (i) Problem #1 with the futurist interpretation –
anachronism
p.3.
B .(ii) Problem #2 with the futurist interpretation
– futurism
p.4
B.(iii) Problem #3 with the futurist interpretation
-
literalism
p.4
C.
Preterist
p.5
Section B. Toward An Answer
I.
The apocalypse – its links with Daniel and
Matthew p.6
A.
Daniel
p.7
B. Matthew 24 and
parallels
p.9
II. Dating
the Book of Revelation
i. Irenaeus’ testimony p.11
ii. Emperor worship p.12
iii. Persecution p.12
iv. The “Nero redivivus”
myth
p.12
v. The “Developed”
churches
p.13
a) Laodicean
“wealth”
p.13
b) The non-existence of the church in
c) The spiritual decline of the
churches
p.13
Conclusion p.14
a) External evidence
i. Scholarly support p.14
ii. Church
Fathers’
testimony
p.14
b)
Internal
evidence
i. Time frame
texts – “this generation”
etc.
p.15
ii. The
iii. The sixth head is
Nero
p.15
iv.
The 3-1/2 years is the Jewish War of
64-68AD
p.16
v. Nero’s death
is
foretold
p.16
vi. The “Mark of the
Beast” identifies
Nero
p.16
vii. The fulfilment of events
following Nero’s
death
p.17
i. Double fulfilment p.17
ii. Irenaeus’ omission
of Nero as
“Beast”
p.18
iii. The use of a Hebrew
cryptogram
p.18
The early-date authorship
secured
p.18
Section C. Comments Upon
The Main
Book
P.18
Chapter 1. Introduction
1.1 An unveiling for the immediate
future
p.19
1.5a “. . .from Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness.
. .”
(v.5).
p.19
1.5b “. . .and the first begotten of the dead. . .”
p.20
1.5c “. . .the Prince of the kings of the earth. .
.”
p.20
1.7 The theme of the
Book
p.21
1.7a “Coming on the
clouds”
p.22
1.7b “tribes”
p.23
1.7c “earth”
p.232
Chapter 5
p.24
Chapter 6
“The Four Horsemen of the
Apocalypse”
p.24
The close relationship with the “Little Apocalypse” of the
Synoptics
p.24
The four horsemen and
horses
p.25
The martyrs cry for vengeance, and the “collapsing
universe”
p.26
Chapter 7
The sealed of
The numberless multitude
(vv.9-17)
p.27
The “Great Tribulation
(v.14)
p.28
Chapter 8
The Golden Altar of Incense
(v.3)
p.29
Remarks upon the Trumpets
p.30
The first trumpet (8:6-7)
p.32
The Second Trumpet
(8:8-9)
p.32
The Third Trumpet
(8:10-11
p.33
The Fourth Trumpet
(8:12-13)
p.33
Chapter 9
The Fifth Trumpet
(9:1-12)
p.33
The Sixth Trumpet
(9:13-21
p.34
Chapter 10
The Strong Angel with the Little Book
(10:1-11)
p.34
Chapter 11
The Two Witnesses
(11:1-14)
p.35
The Earthquake and the Seventh Trumpet
(11:15-19
p.36
Chapter 12
The Sun-clothed Woman; her Seed and the Dragon
(12:1:17)
p.37
Chapter 13
The Beast from the Sea
(13:1-10)
p.38
The Beast from the Earth
(13:11-18)
p.39
Chapter 14
The 144,000
(14:1-5)
p.40
The Gospel is Preached, the Fall of Babylon Announced, and the followers
of the
Beast Warned (14:6-12) p.40
The Son of Man; Harvest and Vintage
(14:14-20)
p.42
Chapter 15
The Song of Victory over the Beast
(15:1-4)
p.42
The
The Seven Last Plagues Pictured as Bowls
(15:1-21)
p.43
Chapter 16
The first Bowl-plague
(v.2)
p.43
The second Bowl-plague
p.43
The third Bowl-plague
p.43
The fourth
Bowl-plague
p.43
The fifth
Bowl-plague
p.44
The sixth
Bowl-plague
p.44
The seventh
Bowl-plague
p.46
Chapter 17
The Harlot Riding the Beast
(17:1-7)
p.46
The Mystery of the Beast Explained
(17:8-18)
p.47
Chapter 18
The Fall of Mystic Babylon
(18:1-24)
p.47
Chapter 19
The Marriage Supper of the Lamb
(19:1-10)
p.48
The Word of God goes to War
(19:11-16)
p.49
The Disposal of Israel
(19:17-18)
p.50
The Disposal of the Beast and the False Prophet
(19:19-21)
p.50
Chapter 20
Satan Bound
(20:1-3)
p.51
The
The Final Rebellion
(20:7-9)
p.52
Chapter 21
The Great White Throne
(20:11-15)
p.52
The City, the Bride and All Things New
(21:1-8)
p.53
The New Jerusalem and Paradise Restored
(21:9-22:5)
p.54
Chapter 22
Concluding Exhortations
(22:6-21)
p.54
Bibliography
p.55
Alan Nairne January 2007
* * * * * *
*
Section A – Outlining The
Problems
I. Introduction
I have not
been bold enough to entitle this paper the key to the understanding of
the Book of Revelation. Nevertheless, I do believe that this
is true. Having said this, I do not pretend that it is an easy book
to understand. It is, after all, a document emanating from an age
far removed from our own. It is couched in Middle Eastern thought
forms which are very alien to our own. It is highly symbolic; so
foreign to our own mode of thought. It is addressed to people of a
culture very different from our own, in circumstances which we in the favoured
west cannot parallel in our own experience.
Yet, for
all that, it is an apocalypse – an unveiling. It is a
personal message from the Lord Jesus Christ to His people. It was
meant to be understood by the original addressees, and by the people of God
down the ages. It is Holy Writ. Inspired by God for the
blessing of all who read, hear and keep the things which are therein written
(Rev.1:3).
It is clear
that the imagery reflects much that is found in the Old Testament, and therein
must lay a clue. If we interpret the OT correctly – and the NT
guides us in this - we stand a chance of interpreting the book of Revelation
correctly.
What I have
just said, and, indeed, the very title of this essay suggests the question –
well, who says that we do not understand it?!! I remember as a late
teenager that I read my first second hand expository book on the Revelation –
Fred Tatford’s Prophecy’s Last Word. There – that dates
me!! This, with the Scofield Reference Bible at my elbow made me the
complete, authoritative Bible teacher on prophetic matters! Perhaps
the majority of Christians who have adopted that Dispensational scheme have
never had it challenged. I trust such will be readers of this
essay.
The first
section of this paper will be devoted to a number of essays establishing the
reasons for believing that the Preterist interpretation is the correct
one. In the second section I hope to deal with all the
major sections of the book of Revelation, but I will not call this paper a
commentary, for, although it will handle topics in chapter order, it will not
deal with every verse. Neither am I bold enough to claim it
to be definitive. But after many years in testing the merits of
prophetic schemes, and eliminating those with serious defects, I am confident
enough to put something into writing which I believe, in principle, is
reliable, and I trust will be of help to my readers in spurring them on to
delve into the subject in volumes that deal with the issues far more deeply
than I can do in this paper.
The
Preterist case has been strong enough to persuade me to accept a change from
what I previously held. How about you, my reader? Are you
that sort of person – who is willing to change if his/her position is weaker
than that which I will set out? Or are you the sort who fights
tooth and nail on a position you have held all your life – perhaps an
interpretation held by the majority, and your peers in particular? If you
are this latter type of person, I cannot think that after all this time I could
shift you from your dearly held position. You are safe where you
are – stay there. But if you are open to consider what may be the
truth of the matter of the Book, hang in, as they say.
II. The Broad Canvas
Several
systems of interpretation have held the field in popularity at different
periods of time. One of these is the
A. Historicist
This system
of interpretation emerged during the time of the Reformation, and saw the Papal
system as the “Beast” of the Book of Revelation.
This interpretation was very popular perhaps up to the early
decades of the last century, but has now fallen into disfavour. No
doubt the very clever chronological cycles as set out by H Grattan Guinness
in the late nineteenth century captivated a certain type of mind, and perhaps
during the days of its popularity the earthquake which shattered Lisbon, the
rise of Charlemagne, and Napoleon, and the Popes, together with the fortunes of
the Saracen empire impressed those who love history, and thought that they saw
it all foretold in the Book of Revelation. But these events pale
into insignificance when set against the earth shattering events of WWI and the
upheavals of the 20th Century. How true it is also,
compared with the events depicted under the symbolism of the Book itself - as
someone has written – the events of the middle ages all now sound like “stage
thunder”. Biblically, they cannot be sustained, and the scheme of
interpretation has now fallen out of favour.
The most
popular view today, held tenaciously today by millions of sincere
Bible-believing evangelical Christians is that expression of the Futurist premillennial
scheme of interpretation known as the Dispensationalism.
B. Dispensational. This system of interpretation came
into being around about 1830 from the writings of one John Nelson Darby, one of
the early members of the Plymouth Brethren in the
Insofar
that it has been grafted into the historic Premillenial system of
interpretation, it can lay claim to credibility. But the ideas developed
after 1830 are far reaching and extensive, and put the system in a category of
its own.
At this
point we must ask ourselves, is it really so that such an important feature as
that of the rapture of the Church will take place before the tribulation
commences some seven years before the Second Coming of Christ takes place had
to await the 19th century before being
discovered? On this score alone it needs to be
carefully examined.
Again, by
relegating chapters four to nineteen of the Book of Revelation to the future
period of the Great Tribulation, it promises that the Church will escape that
time. I wonder what Christians in
Yet it is
true to say that most conservative evangelicals accept this scheme.
Yes, it is attractive for many reasons. One which we must not
ignore is the inveterate curiosity of the human mind to know the
future. Some aspects of Dispensationalist exposition have been
little better than fortune telling. In the
Another
attraction is its frequent appeal to Holy Scripture, particularly the OT.
It purports to provide an answer as to how all those glorious prophecies of
Now I do
not want to again go over the reasons why it is faulty exegesis to see the OT
prophecies being fulfilled in the existence of
Problem #1 with the futurist interpretation – anachronism
I do not
want to patronise my readers by explaining that the anachronism relates to the
majority of the Futurist contents of the Revelation being out of place
in time for its original readers. It is clear that its original
readers were expected to understand that the events foretold were
imminent. For in the very first chapter they are repeatedly informed that
what is written therein “must shortly take place” (1:1), “the time is near”
(1:3), and “…things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the
things which shall take place after these things” (1:19) indicate this to be
so. Within the letters themselves the admonition is repeated, “I am
coming to you quickly” (2:16), “that hour which is about to come….I am coming
quickly” (3:10, 11). Again at the end of the Book, “things which
must shortly take place…..I am coming quickly”, “the time is near”, “I am
coming quickly” (22:6,7,10,12 and 20). The centre section of the
book is thus bracketed between these time constraints at the beginning and the
end.
From this
straightforward clear non-symbolic language it is evident that John expected
the events which he was to describe were to soon take place, and to make it
imperative for his readers to suitably respond.
This point
is absolutely crucial for a correct understanding of the book. For,
if we can know how the original addressees understood the writings, then there
is a sound chance that we too shall be successful. But if, as
is the case with so many attempts to understand the Book, that principle is
abandoned, what hope is there of gaining a correct understanding of
it? After all, if a communication is specifically addressed
to a party or parties, then one would expect the totality of that document to
be applicable to the original referents, unless there is a note within it to
the contrary. With the exception of a part of chapter 20, in this
case there is none.
Let us
consider further this matter of the original addressees – the seven churches in
Problem #2 in interpretation – futurism itself
Futurism
ignores this
cardinal principle of interpretation, which is that we should understand what
the original recipients of a document understood of it, and how it applied to
them. For, the Dispensational system states that from
chapter four all is applicable to a period a little before the Second Coming of
Christ – at present nearly two millennia remote from the original
addressees! As I said above, if that was really the way it was to
be understood, one would have expected there to be some note within the
document to that effect, but there is none. Moreover, this is not
just a paragraph or two, or even a chapter or two. No less than
eighteen of its twenty two chapters are thus siphoned off! No
wonder, despite prophetic charts, and an avalanche of books published, its
contents still tend to be regarded as imminent against each successive
generation’s Middle Eastern background, and each time it has proved
abortive.
We need
to seriously ask ourselves again, since under this system of interpretation the
original referents are not considered, how can it be possible to understand the
meaning of the Book? The original addressees would be just as
ignorant of its meaning as we are, if they had adopted the same futurist interpretation.
This is an approach to sacred literature that we would never think of applying
to the secular realm. And that by people who profess to honour the
word of God. Futurism asserts that the time reference
is for the end times in blatant rejection of the repeated references to
the contrary.
If only
such futurist believers can free their minds from the bondage of
prophetic charts purporting to set out the politics and future history of
Some time
ago I thought I would examine Dispensationalist John Walvoord’s exposition of
Daniel to show the unnecessary exegesis of projecting the majority of Daniel’s
prophecies into the future. I got only so far as chapter seven, and
the sheer repetitiveness of pointing out the needlessness of keep deferring the
outworking of prophecy to an end times yet future to ourselves
persuaded me to finish at that point. For the original
readers, of course, much of it was well into the future. In fact,
Daniel was told to “seal up” the revelation given to him. But there
is much that Walvoord projects into the end times that is needless to do
so. That paper also may be consulted on the previously
mentioned website.
Problem #3 with a futurist interpretation – literalism
If we ask
ourselves why there is this predisposition of Futurists to
project so much into an end times yet future to ourselves, the answer is
simple. Futurism is the daughter of literalism. Whether
the Old or New Testaments are read, there is a failure to recognise prophetic
imagery. Dispensationalists have freely applied the dictum
“literal unless absurd”. But clearly there are many prophetic
Scriptures which give a non-absurd sense literally, but which are intended as
symbolism.
To take
the simple example of the words of the prophet Joel in chapter 2:28-32,
And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my
spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your
old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: 29And
also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my
spirit. 30And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth,
blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. 31The sun shall be turned
into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day
of the LORD come. 32And it shall come to pass, that whosoever
shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered. . . .”
This
Scripture is quoted on the day of Pentecost by Peter as recorded in Acts
2:17-21. Peter states quite unequivocally that “this is that which
was spoken by the prophet Joel. The Dispensationalist
accepts that this refers to the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on the
disciples, but because he is looking for a literal fulfillment of the
cataclysmic signs in the heavens, and because they did not occur, in his
superior wisdom he projects the whole prophecy as yet to be “fully” fulfilled
in a yet future day. If only he would take his literalism to the
text itself, “This is that . . .” The
option to project anything of the prophecy into the future is not open to
him. We must recognize this as prophetic imagery.
The collapsing universe is a very common example of this symbolism.
We find its use in Isa.13:9-11, 19; 24:19-23; 34:4-5; and Ezek.32:7-8,
11-12. The prophecies relate to judgment upon these
nations. The collapsing universe is a picture of the fall of
governmental authorities – rulers and nations (cp.Gen.1:16). It is
a picture of the disintegration of the normal order of things. When
judgment came upon these nations, did those signs appear in the heavens?
Of course not. If such unusual phenomena
had occurred it would have appeared in contemporary records. Then
why expect it to be so in the future, especially when Peter says, “this is
that. . . .”?
Just
think of it. If prophecy after prophecy in the OT is treated in
this unbiblical way, what a mishmash of a result we finish with!
And this is precisely what has happened in the futurist/Dispensational interpretation.
Perhaps I should at this stage reassure my readers that I am literalist and
futurist enough to believe in the Second Coming!
This
brief survey of the main problems of interpretation with a futurist scheme must
suffice.
The third
major system of interpretation of the Book of Revelation is termed “Preterism” from the Latin preter, which
means “past.”
I have
already shown how imperative it is that we try to understand how the original
readers understood the Book which had been written to them. I have shown,
also, that they were to understand that the events referred to were to occur
within a very short time. So we shall need to look broadly
at the evidence that the themes of the book are events, for the original
readers, which they were to soon experience.
C. Preterist
The
purpose of the Apocalypse is not only to prepare believers in the early 60’sAD
for persecution which had already begun, but to comfort them in it, and to
encourage them by picturing the phases of judgment that were to be poured out
upon the apostate Nation that was largely responsible for their
persecution.. This ends in the Gospel triumphing by the destruction
of their foes as seen by the razing of the
I cannot
impress upon my reader the importance of this series of events. As
an ex dispensationalist and futurist I must confess that I still
have to think twice, as it were, to fully grasp the importance of these events
which took place in 70AD. The reason for this is because the events
surrounding the Cross of Christ are largely the last significant events to be
fulfilled in prophecy according to Dispensational teaching.
It is a matter of thankfulness that such believers are staunchly
supportive of the radical importance of the death, burial and resurrection of
our Lord Jesus Christ. From a redemptive standpoint these histories
of our Lord Jesus Christ are absolutely central and pivotal in the Divine
revelation. Those events were “once for all” as the book of
Hebrews tells us. They can neither be repeated, nor added to, nor
improved upon. But it is concerning the events of the day of
Pentecost and onward that our Dispensationalist friends’ emphasis goes
wrong. In their teaching the Church has no continuity with what went
before. The prophets did not see the Church in the “valley” between
Christ’s first Coming and the events leading up to the second. The events
of 70AD are hardly given a thought. Thank God for
Pentecost. I, myself, am not ashamed to bear the label “charismatic”.
But annually at “Pentecost” (“Whitsun” in
Moreover,
these cosmic events of Easter and Pentecost were not the last subjects of
prophecy relating to the coming of Christ to be fulfilled. Matthew
24 and parallels assure us of that. Of course, Dispensationalists
know this, but the significance of the destruction of
We need
to understand that the Church could never be recognised other than as a sect of
Judaism as long as Judaism, epitomised by the glorious
At the
risk of appearing to digress from our study of the Book of Revelation, I feel
that I need to consolidate what I have said above by showing as briefly as
possible the main lines of thought from the book of the prophet Daniel in
respect of his prophecy of the “70 weeks”, and its connection with Matthew 24,
and the Book of Revelation. I will take that risk.
Section B – Toward An
Answer
I. THE APOCALYPSE – ITS LINKS WITH DANIEL AND MATTHEW
Unquestionably,
because expositors have failed to apply consistently the principle that
documents with addressees should be understood in relation to these recipients,
and have hived off into the speculative future, these
Scriptures have become not only areas of contention, but also the happy hunting
ground of every crank who has put pen to paper.
I shall
have to resist, therefore, the temptation to fight every battle over again to
establish what I believe to be the correct application, and stick to those
points that directly affect my theme.
A. Daniel
Matthew’s
link with Daniel is to be found in chapter 24 verse
15,
When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by
Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) 16Then let them which be in
Identifying
the “abomination of desolation” is not difficult. If the three
Synoptic accounts in Matthew 24, Mark 14 and Luke 21 are placed in parallel, it
will be seen that Luke’s account exactly parallels that of Matthew at verses 15
and 16. There, in Luke’s Gospel in verses 20 and 21 we find,
. . . .And when ye shall see
The
events clearly refer to the impending destruction of
24Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to
finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make
reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to
seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
25Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of
the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall
be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built
again, and the wall, even in troublous times. 26And after threescore
and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people
of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the
end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war
desolations are determined. 27And he shall confirm the
covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause
the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of
abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and
that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
As
tempting as it may be to discuss the starting point of the 70 “weeks”, or 490
years, it is quite unnecessary for my purpose, since I am concerned with what
happened during the sixty-ninth and seventieth weeks and anything thereafter.
The twenty-fourth verse is important because it tells us the purpose of the
prophecy, and explains what should happen within the seventy weeks.
Although this prophecy led many of the godly in Israel to be looking for the
coming of Messiah at about the time that He appeared (cf. Anna and Simeon Luke
2:25ff.), until Jesus revealed in His Olivet prophecy the significance of these
verses, the outworking could not be known beforehand. Daniel was
told that all was “. . .concealed and sealed until the
end time” (Dan.12:9). It should be noted that the “end time”
for Daniel is not the same as the “end time” for us. So let
us look, therefore, at the six features of verse 24.
1.
“…to finish the
transgression.” The prophecy was given to Daniel in answer to his distress over
29Woe unto you,
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build
the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, 30And
say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been
partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. 31Wherefore ye be
witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the
prophets. 32Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. 33Ye
serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of
hell? 34Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise
men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some
of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from
city to city: 35That upon you may come all the righteous blood
shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of
Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. 36Verily
I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this
generation. 37O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the
prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee. . . . 38Behold,
your house is left unto you desolate.
2.
“. . .to make an end of sins.” An alternative reading as
given in the margin of the NASB reads “. . .seal up
sins.” This correlates well with what has just been said concerning
filling up the measure of their Fathers, in the sense that the punishment for
their sins, which were carried out in the 70th “week”, was “sealed
up” or reserved for a full generation of 40 years (see Matt.23:36 above) until
70AD.
3.
“. . .to make reconciliation for iniquity. . . ” We now move from judgment to the
promise of blessing. This transition is common in OT
prophecy. Clearly, the sense is that Messiah will make atonement
for sin. This was achieved by His death upon the cross, and
made available to both Jew and Gentile through his glorious resurrection on the
third day.
4.
“. . .to bring in everlasting righteousness. . .” The grace of God has
brought everlasting righteousness to mankind through faith in the atoning
sacrifice of Christ. “For he [God] hath made him to be sin
for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him
(II Cor.5:21 cf. I Cor.1:30).
5.
“. . .to seal up the vision and prophecy. . .” Continuing the
subject of the previous features relating to the full work on the cross of
Christ, we are now told that in the Messiah’s atoning sacrifice would be
fulfilled all prophecy, both direct and in type and symbol relating to
this. As Peter preached immediately following Pentecost, “But those
things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that
Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. . . . Yea, and all the prophets
from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise
foretold of these days” (Acts 3:18, 24).
6.
“. . . .to anoint the most Holy.” Much discussion has taken place as to
whether the anointing is in respect of a place (the
The
Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to
preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the
prison to them that are bound; 2To proclaim the acceptable
year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that
mourn” (Isa.61:1-2a).
Can we allow Scripture to interpret
Scripture? If so, there should be little quarrel with what has been
stated above. Whilst some variation on the application of these
features is permissible, it is clear that they are all fulfilled in
Messiah’s ministry within the seventy sevens (v.24). That
this is a general consensus is shown by the note on the 24th verse
given in the NIV Study Bible, though the caveat is made [for the sake of
Dispensationalists] that “some believe that the last three were not achieved by
the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ but await his further
action.” Of course, one can arbitrarily decree that this is so,
even as it is asserted to accommodate the idea that the 70th “week”
still has yet to run, and interpret the later part of the prophecy
accordingly. But textually, it is all quite
unnecessary. It is only required by the need to give content to the
notion of a future Jewish Millennial Kingdom.
We now need to ask, when was Jesus anointed by
the Holy Spirit? Surely at His baptism when the Spirit came upon
Him. Luke tells us that, following this He was “full of the Holy
Spirit” (4:1), and “returned. . . .in the power of the
Spirit” (4:14). This, I take to be the significance of verse 25,
“Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the
commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall
be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks.” His
anointing, then, was the termination of the 69th “seven”, and
ushered in the commencement of the 70th “seven”.
Verse 26 continues, “And after threescore and
two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself.”
This was during the 70th “week”. We are not told of any
special event that terminated the 70th “week”, i.e. which
took place during the 490th year - on the 31st December
if you like. Pardon my facetiousness! “During” the 70th
week is all that is necessary. But we are told of the future
destruction of the city and the sanctuary by a coming “prince” or
“ruler”. As we have seen, this took place 40 years later, by the end of
that generation. It is generally agreed that Jesus was crucified in
30AD.
In the first half of verse 27 we are told that
“He shall confirm the covenant with many for one week.”
Confirm is, “to make sure”. For the sense of
“with many”, compare Isa.53:11 and Luke 1:16. It should be noted
also that in the original there is no preposition “for” which seems to limit
the duration of the covenant to seven years. It refers to the
time when it was confirmed, that is during the last week. As Jesus
said, “This is the New Covenant in my blood” Matt.26:28).
Having regard to the Hebrew penchant for
repetition and parallelism “He” is the antecedent of Messiah in the first half
of verse 26, not some mythical still future ruler or prince conjured up by the
Dispensationalists who is mentioned in the second half of verse 26.
We are further informed that Messiah, in the middle of the
last week will cause sacrifice and oblation to cease. When He
offered up the one perfect, final sacrifice for sin, for ever, there was no
need for any further sacrifice. As far as God was concerned all
such ritual was for ever finished. The sacrificial system of the
Old Covenant was terminated (and the New Covenant established) – “in the middle
of the “week”. That is three and one half years into
it. And how long was Jesus’ ministry? Give
or take a month or so, three and one half years. Verse 27, in its
parallelism with verse 26 finishes with a further description of the woes of
70AD when the “desolating abominations” will take place. And with the
destruction of
This whole section can be studied with profit
in Philip Mauro’s The Seventy Weeks and the Great Tribulation (Reiner,
Swengel PA 1965 chaps III. to VI.). This popular and definitive
work is probably still in print in
Daniel’s connection with Matthew 24 and
parallels is clearly established. Since this is the case, why then
has there been such confusion over the application of Matthew 24 to the time of
the destruction of the
The reason arises because of the inbred habit
of “futurists” in applying almost any verse which mentions the “coming”
of Christ to his second coming, and the “end of the world (age)” to the same
event. So, though forced to recognize that so much of this
section refers to the era of 70AD their nature is to relegate this passage to the end
times. Consequently they have had to interpret the chapter
speculatively, not to say bizarrely, of events far off in the future.
B. Matthew
24 and parallels
Chapter 23 verse 38 .told the Jews, “. . .
your house is left unto you desolate.” Verses 1 and 2 of chapter 24
continue that theme,
And Jesus went out, and
departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him
the buildings of the temple. 2And Jesus said unto them, See ye not
all these things? verily I say unto you, There
shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
This sets the theme for the chapter, at least
as far as verse 34 – “. . . .this generation shall
not pass,, till all these things be fulfilled.” But nullifying
this unequivocal statement by our LORD, Dispensationalists, by use of the
figment of a “double fulfillment”, cannot even get through to verse 14 without
exporting all from verse 4 into the time of the “Great Tribulation” (see
Scofield Reference Bible on section) just before Christ’s Second
Coming.
But if we adhere to the Scriptures they say
quite plainly that up until verse 34 is applicable to the generation then
living. Nor is this statement nullified by the figment of
Dispensational dogma that “generation” means “race” If you take the
trouble to look up the occurrences of the words for “generation” in the Greek
in the NT you will find that that is never that meaning. It always
refers to the generation of the people living at the time.
At least until verse 26 the language describes
a forthcoming near-at-hand historical situation applicable to
But if you refer to verse 36 we have a complete
contrast. All that went before was predictable for the observant –
70AD was looming upon their horizon. But it is otherwise in verse
36. This verse concerns that day – a different
day. One for which their will be no precursors, no warning, and the
timing of which no one knows but the Father – this section relates to
the Second Coming of Christ. The subject continues into the next
chapter.
Looking briefly at the highly symbolic verses
27-31 we have already seen under my earlier section (p.5) critiquing the
Futurists literalism that the picture of the “collapsing
universe” is common in the OT and pictures the chaos of order and national
government. This precisely depicts the situation following the
destruction of the
The translation of verse 30 has not helped us
to understand what our Lord meant. The meaning is not that there
will appear a sign in the heavens, but that the fulfillment of the events of
70AD which He prophesied will be proof and a sign that Jesus Christ has indeed
ascended to the throne of His government in the heavens, and what he foretold
had been fulfilled to the letter.
The symbolism of verse 31 refers to the period
of establishment and consolidation of the Church following the death of Nero in
68AD. It was during his reign that he set into motion the first
bitter persecution of Christians, which eased upon his death. With the
motivating influence of the Jews broken the Church enjoyed a period of
consolidation for a time.
By not understanding verse 27 concerning the
“coming of the Son of Man” Dispensationalists consistently apply such
statements to the Second Coming. This is such an important matter
that I have devoted a considerable explanation of it later in this paper under
the heading The Theme of the Book.
At this stage I would like to deal with another
important matter. That matter relates to the dating of the Book of
Revelation. I expect most of my readers will have picked up the
inference that if the Book deals with the period up to the Destruction of
Jerusalem, it will have been written before the generally accepted date of
about 96AD. So let us look at the question in some depth.
Ii. Dating The Book Of
Revelation.
A. The late dating.
Milton
Terry (Biblical Hermeneutics Academie Books [Zondervan] p.237) in
introducing this subject has this to say, “Taking, first, the external evidence
touching the date of the Apocalypse, it seems to us that no impartial mind can
fail to see that it preponderates in favour of the later date. But when
we scrutinise the character and extent of this evidence, it seems equally
clear that no very great stress can safely be laid upon it [italics mine].
For it all turns upon the single testimony of Irenaeus, who wrote,
according to the best authorities, about one hundred years after the death of
John, and who says that in boyhood he had seen and conversed with Polycarp, and
heard him speak of his familiar intercourse with John. This fact
would, of course, make his testimony of peculiar value, but, at the same time,
it should be borne in mind that at an early age he removed to the remote West,
and became bishop of
i. Irenaeus’ testimony
Where
commentators discuss the matter in any depth the basis for the late date comes
from a statement made by Irenaeus (130-202) in his Against Heresies,
written about 180-190AD. As this is the major plank in the evidence for
the late dating of the Book for about 96AD I will reproduce the statement for
your consideration. The text is
We will not,
however, incur the risk of pronouncing positively as to the name of Antichrist;
for if it were necessary that his name should be distinctly revealed in this
present time, it would have been announced by him who beheld the apocalyptic
vision. For that was seen no very long time since, but almost in
our day towards the end of Domitian’s reign.
R C
Sproul in his The Last Days of Jesus (p.141ff.) has done us a
service by providing a digest of Gentry’s definitive Doctoral Dissertation Before
Jerusalem Fell on the dating of the Book of Revelation. In
essence he tell us that it is recognised that the words of Irenaeus contain a
certain ambiguity relative to the antecedent of the word “that” in the final
paragraph. Does it mean that the vision was seen by John near
to the time of Domitian (51-96AD)? Or does it mean that John
himself was still in circulation in that era and could have been asked the
identity of Antichrist? Presumably he was not asked because it was
no longer relevant, since the church had widely accepted Nero as the
Antichrist. See below on the Church Fathers’ testimony on this
point.
Moreover,
Gregg in his Revelation – Four Views (p.17) says, “[T]hose who
originally translated Irenaeus’ work into English complained of the poor
condition of the manuscript evidence for his work. They wrote: ‘The
great work of Irenaeus, now for the first time translated into English, is
unfortunately no longer extant in the original. It has come down to
us only in an ancient Latin version, with the exception of the greater part of
the first book, which has been preserved in the original Greek, through means
of copious quotations made by Hippolytus and Epiphanius. The text,
both in Latin and Greek, is often most uncertain’” (Alexander Roberts and W H
Rambaut in The Writings of Irenaeus, vol. 1, trans. 1880. Cited by Gentry, Before
It is
clear that the Church Fathers and modern writers adopted the later date on the
basis of the Irenaeus statement. But this basis is, frankly, too
shaky a foundation on which to build such an important
superstructure. This is even more so in the face of the internal
evidence for the early date being so very strong.
Guthrie
adduces the traditional dating of the book based on Irenaeus’ statement as
“Undoubtedly…strong….” Yet he also says that “it is…possible that
Irenaeus made a mistake.”
Why then
do so many modern scholars come down on the side of a late dating?
Unfortunately neither scientists, nor theologians, contrary to popular thought,
are necessarily neutral, presuppositionless and without bias in their approach
to their work. Consequently, few like to be on the “wrong side of
the (academic) fence.” I can only assume that this is the
case with many who hold the late date when the grounds for doing so are far
from convincing. Perhaps, also, their studies have been in
other directions, and it is easy to assimilate the pre-digested studies of
one’s contemporaries.
ii. Emperor worship
Guthrie,
who favours the late date, in his New Testament Introduction says that
“…the main purpose of the book may be considered apart from the question of
date…”, but again, “nor is it [the date] entirely irrelevant for arriving at a
satisfactory interpretation of the book.” This vacillation is
typical of his approach. Emperor worship is prominent in the
Apocalypse. So in adducing arguments in favour of a late date he
first of all looks at the historical position with regard to this
subject. He says, “…the idea…arose even before the rise of
Christianity…Julius Caesar claimed divine honours…it is the period from Nero to
Domitian which saw the rapid development of emperor worship…” He sums up,
“…although the emperor worship proposed in the Apocalypse would well suit the
later period of Domitian’s reign, there is no conclusive evidence that it could
not have occurred earlier…the evidence would not of itself be enough to close
the discussion on the date.” What a let down!!
iii. Persecution
Guthrie
looks, secondly, at the associated question of persecution. After
lengthy discussion, most of which is inconsequential, he concludes, “…if on
other [i.e. persecution] grounds the Apocalypse must be dated during this
period [Domitian’s reign],…would make persecution…in his time highly
probable.” This is clearly very weak.
Not only
so, but as Gentry points out (The Beast of Revelation p.170), the
persecution under Domitian is not mentioned in any secular
literature. Whereas the persecution under Nero is documented in
both Christian and secular literature, and, although local was very
severe. This evidence is too weak to establish a late date for
Revelation.
iv. The Nero
Redivivus myth
Thirdly
he looks at the abstruse subject of the “Nero myth.” This myth,
that Nero was to revive and return took profound root in the Roman culture and
was well known in Domitian’s reign. It carries considerable weight
in both liberal and evangelical circles to give evidence to a late date for
Revelation. Yet, in truth, it should not even be
considered. The supposed connection with the book of Revelation
with the myth refers to the matter in chapters thirteen (3 ff.) and seventeen
(8, 11). The idea is that if Nero’s death is referred to, and the
myth fully emerged in Domitian’s reign, then this indicates a
95-96AD writing. But Guthrie finishes the discussion with,
“…extremely inconclusive….”
But
“extremely inconclusive” is not negative enough. As I said, any
connection should never even have been thought of. There is a perfectly
valid historical explanation for the verses in question, and I discuss them
fully later. But, sufficient to say just now that the death of Nero
threatened the very existence of the Empire for some years, until Vespassian
came to power and re-established the Empire which continued for some hundred of
years. Truly, this was a dying and a reviving.
v. The
“Developed” Churches
The final
argument for a late date relates to the condition of the churches requiring
more time for development than 64AD or thereabouts allowed.
Although Guthrie refers to this, I follow Gentry (The Beast of Revelation
p175 ff.) who uses Morris’ work on Revelation as an example.
(a). Laodicean “wealth”
Since
But who
is to say that the wealth of the
But, even
if material riches are what the Laodiceans boasted of, there is historical
evidence that
Finally,
who is to say whether the Church itself suffered damage at all?
Perhaps their preservation led to their unseemly boasting?
No firm
conclusions can be drawn from this argument.
(b). The
non-existence of the church in
A
statement in a letter from Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, to the church at
Philippi seems to indicate that the church at
(c). The spiritual
decline of the churches
Spiritual
decline is evident in the churches in
Again,
nothing can be proved by the argument of spiritual decline by the mid-60’sAD.
Conclusion
I will
not bore my reader with further quotations from Guthrie, other than to say that
when he deals with the arguments for a Neronian date of writing, his work is
punctuated by “hardly”, “perhaps”, “probably” etc., etc. (p.949ff).
Yet
despite all the uncertainty of the evidence for a late dating, he comes down on
this side presumably because he wishes to follow the majority tradition.
And I believe this is the reason why most evangelical theologians follow the
tradition – it is “safer”. Is this sufficient for you to
follow? It is not for me. I prefer to be guided by writers
who have thoroughly researched their subject and have come up with as much
certainty as is possible.
B. The early dating.
The
following are the main evidences of the early dating of the Apocalypse.
a. External evidence
i. Scholarly support
Whilst
today it is true that the majority of conservative evangelical scholars accept
the later dating of the Book, it is not true to say that they all do.
Gentry, in The Beast of Revelation lists no
fewer than one hundred and fifteen scholars who accepted a pre-AD70 authorship
of the Book. Many of them are from the 19th and 20th
centuries, and still are household names, whose works are still regarded as
definitive. Just a few of them include Auberlen, F F Bruce,
Bultmann, Adam Clarke, Alfred Edersheim, Ewald, Farrar, S G Green, F J A Hort,
J B Lightfoot, C F D Moule, Neander, Plummer, J A T Robinson, Sanday, Schaff,
Stier, Moses Stuart, Terry, Torrey, Westcott, and Robert Young. It
must be granted that scholars of this stature would not hold to an early dating
lightly. Modern day writers include Jay Adams, Gentry, Mathison, DeMar, and R C Sproul all in
ii. Church
Fathers’ testimony
Sproul reminds us that there is further important external
evidence for an early date which includes the testimony of Clement of
Alexandria 150-215AD). He refers to the return of John from
b. Internal evidence
i. Time frame
texts – “this generation.” etc.
We have
already seen that there are repeated references at the beginning and end of the
Book to the imminence of the majority of the events referred to.
Futurist commentators have sought to avoid this by asserting it means that the
events, whenever they take place, will speedily be completed once they
begin. Or that it is God’s time, not man’s, quoting II Pet.3:8. Or,
that events such as these are always imminent, and can
take place at any time. But there is a simple way for my
reader to find out what the verses mean. Reference to a lexicon or
concordance will show that these verses in the Apocalypse are translations of
the three Greek words eggus, tachos and mella. It will
be seen that without exception they are all translated to indicate
imminence. There is an expectation that the events will soon take
place. To suggest otherwise is a case of bad exegesis.
The meaning of these verses cannot be changed without perverting the meaning of
Holy Scripture. They are parallel to Jesus’ repeated assertion in
Matt.24 and parallels that all these things will come upon “this generation”, and
were fulfilled in the destruction of the
ii. The
In
Revelation chapter 11 verses one and two the Apostle in vision is given a rod
and instructed to measure the (inner)
iii. The sixth
head is Nero
In Revelation
17 John sees a beast having seven heads and ten horns, ridden by a scarlet
clothed woman. He explains in verse 9 that “the seven heads are
seven mountains on which the woman sits.” This would have
presented no difficulty to the recipients of the Book, for
There is
no difficulty identifying who these emperors are if we apply the lists used by
ancient historians such as Josephus, Suetonius and Dio Cassius. Gentry quotes the documents in which these lists occur in
his dissertation. These emperors are
1. Julius
Caesar 49-44
2. Augustus
31-14
3. Tiberius
14-37
4. Caligula
37-41
5. Claudius
41-54
6. Nero
54-68
7. Galba
68-69
8. Otho
69-69
9. Vitellius
69-69
10. Vespasian
69-79
This
tallies with what we adduced earlier, that throughout the
iv. The 3½ years
is the Jewish War of 64-68AD
I quoted
two paragraphs earlier Rev.11:2 in which John is instructed to measure the
Those
familiar with the book of Revelation will recognise the forty two months also
as 3-1/2 years, 1260 days and “time, times and half a time.”
Gentry, quoting F F Bruce’s New Testament History (pp.381-382) has shown
that this is practically the period of time covered by the Jewish war with
It should
be noted that Nero was the first emperor to persecute Christianity and this he
carried out from Nov. 64AD to June 68AD when he died and the persecution
ceased. This also is a period of forty two months.
v. Nero’s death
is foretold
It should
be noted that Nero died by his own hand, by his dagger into his
throat. His persecution of Christians caused many to die by the
sword. Tradition has it that Paul the apostle was beheaded on his
authority. Here again we see in another detail the exact
correspondence with the Scripture. Rev.13:10 tells us.” . .he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword.
This is the patience and faith of the saints.”
vi. The “Mark of
the Beast” identifies Nero
Another
example of weighty internal evidence for a date prior to the death of Nero in
68AD is that relating to the “number of the Beast” – 666. This number
is an exercise in Hebrew gematria, that is, converting
numbers to letters. Cryptography is its modern name. According to
Gentry archaeology has revealed an ancient Hebrew spelling of Nero Caesar as Nrwn
Qsr where n = 50 r=200 w=6 n=50 q=100 s=60 r=200 totalling 666.
Much lamp oil has been burned discussing a whole variety of possible names,
with many possible answers, but the simplicity of the above should commend
itself as further confirmation of the identity of the Beast being Nero.
It should also be said that whilst specifically this is a personal
identity, there is also a generic identity, the
vii. The
fulfilment of events following Nero’s death
The last
example which enables us so accurately to identify the Beast as Nero comes from
the detail given concerning events following his death. This
is given in Rev.13:3, “. . .and I saw one of his heads
as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And
the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast.”
This
verse has been thought fatal to the position adopted here in that Nero
certainly never came back from the dead to receive a following in his empire.
The Beast has yet to arise. But this only
appears to be so, because such commentators forget the principle that the
application to the original referents holds the key to the correct
interpretation. Consequently they habitually look beyond the
history of the time and come up either with bizarre futurist interpretations,
or a refusal to accept the correct one.
Here we
must apply the principle of interpretation given in our last example – that
there is not only a personal identification of the “Beast”, but that of a generic
interpretation. The “Beast” is also the
Gentry reminds (The Beast of Revelation p.71f.) us that there were two
calamitous results of the death of Nero. One was that he was the
last of the line of Julio-Claudian emperors. With his death the
blood line of the founding family which had given birth to, extended,
stabilized and brought prosperity to and worship from the
The
second calamity was that the
The history
on which I am entering is that of a period rich in disasters, terrible with
battles, torn by civil struggles, horrible even in peace. Four
emperors failed by the sword, there were three civil wars, more foreign wars
and often both at the same time. . .Cities. . . were swallowed up or
overwhelmed; Rome was devastated by conflagrations, in which her most ancient
shrines were consumed and the very Capitol fired by citizens’
hands. Sacred rites were defiled. . .the
sea was filled with exiles, its cliffs made foul with the bodies of the
dead. In
These appeared
to be the “very death throes of
But when
Vespasian, of the Flavian family ascended the throne, events changed and
stability came, and, as history proved, the empire lasted for hundreds of years
to come. So, “the deadly wound was healed, and the whole world was
amazed and followed after the Beast.” (Rev.13:3).
These are
the major proofs of the early dating of the Book of Revelation, and I will
bring this section to an end. As we go through the book in
consecutive order we shall find many more examples.
C. Objections by late-date holders
i. “Double fulfilment”
In case
any Futurists are tempted to suggest that this could be a primary
fulfilment, and that there could be a final fulfilment yet to come, it needs to
be said that it just is not possible for all the interlocking historical events
which so accurately fit Nero, to be reproduced in the future.
ii. Irenaeus’
omission of Nero as the “Beast”
Whilst
many academics accept Nero as fulfilling in so many details the role as the
Beast, it is only fair to say that many do not. One of their
objections is that Irenaeus, who, writing about 100 years later, although
rather doubtfully offering three candidates (Euthanos, Laetinos and Teitan) in
Against Heresies does not mention Nero. Neither is he mentioned
by other Church Fathers. At first appearance this seems to be a major
objection and Gentry seeks to deal with it, and a minor objection.
Firstly, as he points out, had Irenaeus offered with confidence a candidate the
challenge would have been more serious. Not only does he offer no
serious alternatives, but even suggests that there is a
hopelessness in finding a proper understanding of the
matter. All that this indicates in the face of very strong internal
evidence is that the true solution, whatever it was, had been lost and cannot
overthrow the strong evidence already offered. If it had been
forgotten in Ireaneus’ time, later Church Fathers would not remember it.
iii. The use of a Hebrew cryptogram
Another
objection raised is that the mental gymnastic of reverting to a Hebrew
cryptogram in the middle of a document written in Greek would be too great for
the readers. But this overlooks the fact that it has long been
recognized that Revelation is a very “Jewish” book. The noted
scholar R H Charles says in his commentary on Revelation that, “while he
writes in Greek, he thinks in Hebrew.” This has produced a book
which is recognised as having a peculiar Greek grammar and syntax, and the book
contains many Hebrew words and much Hebrew idiom. Moreover there
were many Hebrew speaking Jews scattered throughout the empire, and the
adoption of a cryptogram with Hebrew spelling would not be out of order.
The early-date authorship secured
I believe
that the case for an early date has not only been proved, but is incontrovertible.
As Gentry concludes, “[Nero] is the only contemporary historical figure that
can possibly fulfil all of the requirements. [Italics
his.] Contrary to some commentators who fear that the key
to the Revelation’s “666” is lost, I suggest that the key is actually in the
keyhole, the last place to look!”
The Beast
will come up again when we look at the chapters that specifically refer to him,
but, having, I believe established the credibility of the Preterist
interpretation, I will now submit essays on the Book
of Revelation in sequential order. We shall not deal with those
areas where there is common agreement among many commentators, but particularly
deal with those which require a preterist interpretation which makes sense of
the book.
Section C – Comments Upon
The Main Book
Whilst
most expositors point out the obvious – that the Book is structured around a
series of sevens, Milton Terry (ibid. p.467) perceptively points out the
following main two-fold division:
I.
REVELATION
OF THE LAMB
1. In
the Epistles to the Seven Churches i-iii
2.
By the Opening of the Seven Seals iv-vii
3.
By the Sounding of the Seven Trumpets viii-xi
II. REVELATION OF THE BRIDE
1.
Vision of the Woman and
the Dragon xii
2.
Vision of the Two Beasts
xiii
3.
Vision of
4.
Vision of the Last
Plagues xv, xvi
5.
Vision of Mystic
Babylon xvii, xviii
6.
Vision of the Parousia,
Millennium, and Judgment, xix, xx
7.
Vision of the New
Jerusalem, xxi, xxii
We shall
trace the outworking of these visions.
Chapter 1 - Introduction
The
paragraph references relate to the chapter and verse of the Book. There
may not be an unbroken sequence, since not every verse is dealt
with. As I said earlier, only those verses which need a Preterist
interpretation will be dealt with. Many sections have already formed the
subject of this paper. Usually the preterist interpretation should have
been self evident, but in so many cases they have been hi-jacked by the Futurists
and blind spots have been produced so that their true import, even when very self-evident,
needs to be pointed out.
1.1 An unveiling for the immediate future
The
Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants,
the things which must shortly take place; and he sent and communicated it
by His angel to His bond-servant John (v.1).
We
readers in the 21st century, alas, need to be reassured that the
Lord really did want us to understand his Book. Down through the
ages many bizarre interpretations have emerged, but probably none more than
during the late 20th century, particularly from the camp of Hal Lindsey
and his ilk. This has come about because God’s people have ignored
the principle already discussed, that the book must be historically relevant to
that generation of believers, within the short period of time left for them to
take action immediately so as to benefit from His revelation.
He termed
it a “revelation” an “apocalypse” because it really was meant to
be an “unveiling”, of things which were to “shortly take place”,
for “the time is near.” How near? We have seen that this book
was written probably at the beginning of the persecution of the Church which
took place in 64AD under Nero. Under that tyrant John had already
been incarcerated in Patmos, a rocky outcrop in the Mediterranean, “I, John,
your brother and fellow-partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and
perseverance which are in Jesus was on the island called
1.5.a “. . .from
Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness…” (v.5).
It is
interesting what Chilton in Days of Vengeance (p.61ff.) has to say
concerning this title. He points out that ‘R J
Rushdoony (n.18. Institutes of Biblical Law pp.573f.)
has forcefully pointed out how the term Witness
(in Greek, martyr), has acquired connotations foreign to the word’s
original meaning: “In the Bible, the witness is one who works to enforce the
law and assist in its execution, even to the enforcement of the death penalty.
. . .He not only witnesses against those who are at war against God, but he
also executes them. . . . Jesus Christ therefore witnesses against every man
and nation that establishes its life on any other premise than the sovereign
and triune God and His infallible and absolute law-word”.
The
apostate nation of
1.5.b “. . .and the
first begotten of the dead. . .”
The phrase “first begotten”, or rather more familiarly “firstborn” is a
technical designation well understood among the Old Covenant people of
God. Its significance pre-dates the Old Covenant judging by
the references in the book of Genesis concerning those who were
firstborn. By the time of the Exodus from
But there
was a corporate aspect concerning the “firstborn” of which the Lord reminds us
from time to time. Pharoah was reminded that “. . .
1Why do the heathen
rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? 2The kings of
the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the
LORD, and against his anointed, saying, 3Let us break their
bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. 4He that sitteth
in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. 5Then
shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore
displeasure. 6Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of
Zion.
7I will declare the
decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I
begotten thee. 8Ask of me, and I shall give thee the
heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for
thy possession. 9Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou
shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.
10Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the
earth. 11Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. 12Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from
the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are
all they that put their trust in him.”
Yet Acts
13:33-34 puts the subject [Christ] of this exhortation to the “highest place
that heaven affords” firmly in the context of the death and resurrection of the
eternal Son of God. For the redemption of the creation, and man in
particular, ruined by sin, could be achieved no other way.
Consolidating this feature He is further termed,
1.5.c “ . .
.the Prince of the kings of the earth.”
Many
commentators attribute the symbolism of the Apocalypse to the need to use “code
language” to avoid unnecessary conflict with the Roman authorities.
This does not stack up in view of the above ascription. The “prince
of the kings of the earth” is an open challenge to the Roman Emperors.
Peter, in
an early sermon in the Acts of the Apostles (4:12) states baldly
Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name
under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
He would
have known that the notion of saviourhood was included in the titles of Caesars Julius and Augustus,
and latterly Nero also (Gentry Beast pp.58, 60 and 64).
Chilton (Days of Vengeance p.63-64), again, on this section, “He
is the universal King now, in this age-sitting at His Father’s right hand while
all His enemies are being put under His feet. This process of
taking dominion over all the earth in terms of His rightful title is going on
at this moment, and has been ever since He rose from the dead. As
Firstborn (and only-begotten!), Christ possesses the crown rights of all
creation: ‘All authority in heaven and earth has been given to Me,’ He claimed (Matt.28:18). All nations have
been granted to Him as his inheritance, and the kings of earth are under court
order to submit to Him (Ps. 2:8-12). Commenting on Christ’s title Ruler
of the kings of the earth, William Symington wrote: ‘The persons who are
here supposed to be subject to Christ, are kings, civil rulers, supreme and
subordinate, all in civil authority, whether in the legislative, judicial, or
executive branches of government. Of such Jesus Christ is Prince;
- ho archon, ruler, lord, chief, the first in power,
authority, and dominion. (n.19. Symington, Messiah the
Prince 1839 p.208).’
This, in fact, is precisely the reason for the persecution of Christians
by the State. Jesus Christ by the Gospel has asserted His absolute
sovereignty and dominion over the rulers and nations of earth. They
have a choice: Either submit to His government and law, accepting His
non-negotiable terms of surrender and peace, or be smashed to bits by the rod
of His anger. Such an audacious, uncompromising position is an
affront to the dignity of any self-respecting humanist – much more so to rulers
who are accustomed to thinking of themselves as gods walking on
earth. Perhaps this Christ can be allowed a place in pantheon,
along with the rest of us gods; but for His followers to proclaim Him as Lord
of all, whose law is binding upon all men, whose statutes call into judgment
the legislation and decrees of the nations – this is too much; it is
inexcusable, and cannot be allowed.. . . .It was this that guaranteed their
persecution, torture, and death at the hands of the State. And it was also
this that guaranteed their ultimate victory. Because Jesus is universal
Lord, all opposition to His rule is doomed to failure, and will be crushed.”
Perish the thought that Jesus Christ still awaits cataclysmic events to
occur on earth, followed by His return before He can wrest the sovereignty from
the usurper and gain His Kingship!
Is the
idea that the Christian church avoided offending
Or those who teach that today is the “day of grace” and that judgment awaits the Second coming? Such will defer
judgment, which is an integral on-going feature of the Book of Revelation until
the Second Coming. No wonder to them the Book is
unintelligible.
1:7 The Theme of the Book
Behold,
He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who
pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. Even so. Amen. (v.7).
This
verse has been recognised by many expositors as setting the theme of the
Apocalypse. It is the repeated warning or encouragement throughout
both the letters to the churches, and the chapters that follow, of impending
events that will affect the Churches and the apostate nation of
But
futurist expositors would have difficulty in seeing this, for, in immediately
relegating any passage coupling “Christ” with “coming” and “clouds”
into the end times, they have had to interpret the Book speculatively of events
far off in the future. We ask our futurist friends, if the theme of
the Book is the “end times”, why does the Author set out letters to seven
existing churches, warning them of immediately pending persecution?
“Behold, I come quickly” is the repeated thought throughout the
Book. Do I believe, then, that the Second Coming took place in
70AD? To set your minds at rest, be assured that I
believe Christ’s Second Coming to final judgement and the resurrection and
reward of His people will take place in the future “end times”. I am a futurist
to that extent!
Let us
look, then, at what Scripture pictures in these
“cloud-comings.” Expositors have long recognised that
the Book is deeply rooted in OT language and history, and there is no finer
principle of interpreting Scripture than by Scripture. So to
Scripture we turn.
1.7a “Coming on the clouds”
We are
reminded of that dread scene which was the occasion of the giving of the law at
9And the LORD said unto Moses,
Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak
with thee, and believe thee for ever. . . . And thou shalt set bounds unto the
people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the
mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely
put to death: 13There shall not an hand touch it, but he shall
surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not
live: when the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount. . . . .
16And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were
thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the
trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled. 17And
Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood
at the nether part of the mount. 18And mount Sinai was altogether on
a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof
ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. 19And
when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses
spake, and God answered him by a voice. 20And the LORD came down
upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the LORD called Moses up to the
top of the mount; and Moses went up. 21And the LORD said unto Moses,
Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the LORD to gaze, and
many of them perish.
Clearly,
the whole scene was intended by the Lord to impress upon all His unutterable
holiness, His unapproachableness, and His supreme sovereignty.
The fire, smoke and resulting clouds all meant to convey his
unsullied purity, and his ability to destroy. It was intended to
convey to the hearers the utmost gravity of having dealings with their
covenant-making God, and to be a warning to would-be apostates or their enemies
– no wonder the people trembled (v.16).
It is
appropriate, therefore, that the figure of clouds should be used by the authors
of Holy Writ to convey threatened judgment. Isa.19:1 pictures
the Lord coming in judgment upon
1The burden of
Joel 2:1ff. sets the
scene, this time over the people of
1Blow ye the trumpet in Zion,
and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land
tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand; 2A
day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness. . . .
a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever
the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many
generations. 3A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a
flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a
desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them. . .
The
symbol is continued when Christ promised judgment upon the
And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in
heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see
the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
The
symbol is continued when Christ promises (Matt.26:64) his interlocutors that
they (personally!) will know of His judgments which were to take place from
64AD when the Jewish Wars commenced, terminating in 70AD when Jerusalem was
destroyed and Israel went into captivity among the nations.
Jesus saith unto him, “Thou hast said: nevertheless I
say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand
of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.”
When the LORD came in judgment upon
A word or two needs to be said about the phrase “all the tribes of the
earth.”
1.7.b. “tribes” Firstly, concerning the term
“tribes”. In Rev.1:7 which, as we have seen, defines
the theme of the Apocalypse, and we are told that he is coming in judgment upon
those “who pierced Him.” Now, whilst technically it was the Romans
who actually nailed Jesus to the cross, the NT fairly and squarely places the
responsibility for this awful deed on the people of
1.7.c. “earth” Secondly, concerning the term
“earth.” In Rev,1:7 this is a
translation of the Greek word ge. Clearly, in our
verse it means “land”, i.e. the
This is the theme of the Book. That Christ is soon coming to
bring judgment upon the apostate covenant people of
The theme is based upon the victory following upon Christ’s atoning
death, burial, glorious resurrection, and ascension to the right hand of the
Father, to await the shortly forthcoming gift of the Holy Spirit to the newly
constituted Church. Christ’s victory not only assures a glorious New
Covenant future, often associated with suffering, persecution and death,
for the Church and Kingdom of God, but also the carrying out of the penalties
of the broken Old Covenant upon apostate Israel.
This theme is seen repeatedly throughout the letters to the seven
Churches in
Chapter 5 The Seven-sealed Book
The scene in this chapter of the “newly-slain” lamb approaching the
throne and receiving the seven-sealed Book has been widely recognized by
commentators as being the scene described prophetically in Daniel chapter 7
verses 7-13 which will repay reading.
Every commentator is bound to ask what exactly is the seven sealed
Book. Undoubtedly it relates to the unfolding of all
that follows. Chilton is helpful (Days of Vengeance p.66) in
quoting Theodor Zahn (Introduction to the New Testament Vol.III,
pp.393f. quoted in Beasley-Murray’s The Book of Revelation
p.121). He states
that “the most simple member of the Asiatic churches
knew that a biblion made fast with seven seals was a testament.”
Chilton believes that “Any Christian reader [of those times] would
immediately have understood the significance of this [written on front and
back] description, for it is based on the description of the Ten
Commandments. The two tablets of the Testimony, which were duplicate
copies, were inscribed on both front and back (Ex.32:15).”
The Testament would, therefore have contained not only the promise of
the victories of the NT Kingdom of God, but also the details of the punishment
for the broken Old Covenant upon Jerusalem and the Jews. These all
are presented in symbolic language and pictures.
We see the commencement of the outworking of all this in the breaking of
the seals and the emergence of the four horsemen.
Chapter 6. The “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse”
The close relationship with the Little Apocalypse of
the Synoptics
R H Charles (A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Revelation
of St. John 2 vols.. Vol..
Revelation
6
Matthew 24
1.
War
(v.1-2)
1. Wars (v.6)
2.
International
strife
(v.3-4)
2. International strife (v.7a)
3.
Famine
(v.5-6)
3. Famines (v.7b)
4.
Pestilence
(v.7-8)
4. Earthquakes (v.7c)
5.
Persecution
(v.9-11)
5. Persecutions (v.9-13)
6.
Earthquake;
De-creation
(v.12-17)
6. De-creation (v. 15-31)
Mark
13
Luke 21
1.
Wars
(v.7)
1. Wars (v.9)
2.
International strife
(v.8a)
2. International strife (v.10)
3. Earthquakes
(v.8b)
3. Earthquakes (v.11a)
4.
Famines
(v.8c)
4. Plagues & famines (v.11b)
5.
Persecutions (v.11-13)
5. Persecution (v.12-19)
6.
De-creation
(v.v.14-27)
6. De-creation (v.20-27)
Chilton compliments Charles’ perceptiveness and those many commentators
who have followed his lead. But he expresses astonishment that
‘they should fail to see
The horsemen and horses
The OT background to the scene of this chapter is Zechariah chapter
6. There we have the four “winds” or “spirits” (=angels) which
stand before the Lord of all the earth (v.5). Clearly these angels
control the course of history in terms of God’s sore judgments upon the land,
even as do the “living creatures” of the Apocalypse. If Habakkuk’s prayer
is read in chapter 3 of that prophecy it will be seen to incorporate all the
usual imagery used in both Old and new Testaments for the coming of the Lord in
judgment.
The opening of the first seal gives an invitation “come” by one
of the four living creatures that surround the throne to the first rider on the
white horse.
Nearly all Dispensational writers see him as prefiguring the end time
Antichrist. Apart from the fact that it is entirely gratuitous to
project this event into the far distant future when we have been warned by John
that “the time is near”, there are certain features which persuade us that it
is none other the conquering Christ who goes forth to obtain
victories. Note that he is already crowned before He goes
forth. This sits well with what we have been told in both Old and
New Testaments concerning the elevation afforded Messiah following His
resurrection, and agrees with what we see in other parts of this
Book. This is the word translated overcoming in the letters
to the Churches in chapter 5:5 and 6:2 where it is rendered to conquer.
Note also that he is armed with a bow, as He was when pictured by
Habakkuk (Hab.3:9, 11). Moreover He is mounted upon a white horse, as he
is pictured in Rev.19, and He goes out conquering and to conquer His
enemies. So what has happened to the empire-wide peace - the Pax
Romana? The effects of the Jewish War and the death
of Nero shattered that. One must read Josephus’ works to gain an
idea of the horrifying situation and events of those years, and see how closely
it all resembles the apocalyptic scenes described in the Book of
Revelation. It should be noted, though, that whereas in
chapter 6 he goes out to visit judgment upon his enemies, apostate Israel, in
chapter nineteen there is a sword proceeding from His mouth.
This latter indicates conquest by the WORD among all nations, after His work of
destruction has been completed.
Most commentators see the connection between the second rider on a red
horse, signifying bloodshed, and the following black horse whose
rider holds a pair of scales in his hand. In whatever age
conflict takes place, inevitably famine follows land-devastating
war. Likewise, it is widely recognized that it is the poor who
suffer most. There is a famine of staple food, but the luxuries
remain in supply to those who can afford them. As Chilton so aptly
says, “This is God’s curse on men whenever they rebel: The land itself spews
them out (Lev. 18:24-28; Isa.24). The Curse devours productivity in
every area, and the ungodly culture perishes through starvation, disease, and
oppression (Deut.28:15-34). This is how God controls the wicked:
They must spend so much time just surviving that they are unable to exercise
ungodly dominion over the earth. In the long run, this is the
history of every culture that departs from God’s Word (ibid. p.190).
The fourth horseman rides a chlorus horse. Sickly green, unhealthy, the harbinger of death.
We can compare these judgments with those foreseen by Ezekiel (5:17 and
14:21). They are familiar pictures of God’s judgments upon the
ungodly.
The Martyrs cry for vengeance and
the “collapsing universe”
“How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?”
(Rev.6:10).
I hope that by now we are getting used to the idea that vengeance,
judgment, retribution, and wrath are not inconsistent with our God during this
“age of grace”. The letters to the seven churches incorporated this
feature, and we remember Paul’s use of the word anathema in the Galatian
epistle and cf. II Tim:4:14.
This vengeance, when it came would be complete, swift and
terrible. It was necessary in the counsels of God, for it to be in
the fullness of time. These martyrs were, therefore, told that this
vengeance awaited the full tally of the martyrs to be completed, and reminds us
of the same principle God applied to the destruction of the Canaanite nations
by Israel – it had to await the Amorites filling up the full measure of their
iniquity (Gen.15:16).
The collapsing universe (which was discussed on p.5) of the
sixth seal is identical language to that found in the Little Apocalypse of
the Synoptic Gospels which clearly refers to the utter destruction of the
nation of Israel and its dispersion throughout the Roman Empire. The Land
and its people, we are told (Rev.6:16), are subject to the wrath of the Lamb
which Paul told us was going to come upon them (I Thess.1:10) to the
uttermost (I Thess.2:16), all of which was fulfilled in 70AD.
7. The sealed of
The sealed of
If we keep in mind what Ezekiel wrote in chapter 9 concerning the
sealing of those in
…behold,
six men came from the way of the higher gate…and every man a slaughter weapon
in his hand: and one man among them was clothed with linen, with a
writer’s inkhorn by his side. . . .and the glory of
the God of
It was the Babylonians who carried out the siege and destruction of
So it was when God intended the Romans, in fulfillment of all that Jesus
had foretold, to destroy the Holy City, He ensured that His people would not
perish in the destruction. And they did not. As we saw
earlier in this paper, Eusebius informs us that no Christian lost his life when
the city was destroyed.
Apropos to the matter of angelic control of events, we have the four
angels who were the executors of the coming judgments who were told to withhold
their activities until the sealing was completed.
Who were the sealed? Clearly, at least the “remnant” from the
twelve tribes who had accepted Jesus as Messiah and who comprised the
Church. The focus of the judgments was upon Judea and
It is worthy of note, however, that the “sealing” took place before the
carnage presaging the end of the Jewish economy took place. For, in
verses 1-3 we see that the four angels that have charge of the outpouring of
the judgments on the Land and its People are instructed to withhold their
actions until the Messianic people have all been sealed to preserve them from
the coming destruction. Yet, in terms of the sequence of the chapters,
this has already begun under seals one to four. From this we learn that
strict chronological order is not observed by the Divine Author when John set
out Revelation.
Even when John wrote, we saw from his letters to the seven churches that
serious persecution had already begun. Indeed, John himself was an
early victim of Nero’s assault on the church. This state of affairs
is seen in the next vision that John receives; that of the great multitude that
came out of “great tribulation”.
The numberless multitude (7:9-17)
Clearly, these who had “washed their robes, and made them white in the
blood of the Lamb” (v.14), were also “sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise”
(Eph.1:13, 14), and are the same company under a different aspect.
I can do no better than to quote Chilton (Days of Vengeance p.214), “ . . . from one standpoint, God’s people are definitely
numbered; none of the elect are missing, and the Church is perfectly
symmetrical and whole. From another standpoint, the Church is
innumerable, a great host that no one could count. Seen from one
perspective, the Church is the new, the true, Israel of God: the
sons of Jacob gathered into all their tribes, full and complete.
From another, equally true perspective, it is the Church world-wide: a
great multitude redeemed from every nation and all tribes and peoples and
tongues. . . . therefore, the sealed Remnant of
Israel is the holy seed, the “first fruits” (14:4) of the new Church, destined
to expand into an innumerable multitude gathered in worship before the Throne
in heaven. The nucleus of
We notice that this great company has been drawn “from every nation” throughout
the
But these situations of persecution were not to be thought unusual;
rather, it should be regarded as the normal habitat of the Church. Nor
should it be thought of as a defeat when loss of goods or even life
occurs. For this company, comprising the whole Church, the “Church
militant” on earth, and the “Church triumphant” in heaven are celebrating the
universal dominion and victory of the Lamb. (cf. Heb.12:18ff.). “The
blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.”
The “Great Tribulation” (7:14)
“The Great Tribulation” is a major feature of Dispensational doctrine,
and, in the way that it is described by Matthew and Mark is thought to
administer the coup de grace to the Preterist interpretation of this
Book.
Matthew’s description of this time is, “For then shall be great
tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no,
nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there
should no flesh shall be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall
be shortened.” (Matt.24:21, 22). Mark’s version (13:19, 20) is
similar.
It must be admitted, on the face of it, that it presents difficult
challenges for a past (Preterist) fulfillment.
For, one only has to think of the WWII “holocaust” to see that in terms of loss
of life, as awful as it was, the destruction of
Yet, as we have seen Jesus definitely located, by the time frame verses
of the Gospels, this period within that generation. Those of
us who believe that the Word of God is inspired, and
that Jesus did not misplace history, will not lightly project the “Great
Tribulation” into the future.
Yet, this is precisely what Futurists/Dispensationalists have done, and
this is what millions of western Christians believe as the truth concerning the
future. The trouble is that these interpreters have, as early as
Psalm 2 verse 5, conditioned themselves to project the
“Great Tribulation” into the end times (Scofield Reference Bible), and
this prevents them from dealing objectively with what our Lord had to say.
The challenge to the Preterist interpretation has been fully met by
Kenneth Gentry in his Perilous Times (p.63ff.). He presents
five arguments which fully reconcile the verses with their being fulfilled in
terms of the Jewish War and destruction of the
The first, fourth and fifth arguments are conclusive, but I will briefly
describe each one.
1.
The Time
Frame
references in the Synoptic Gospels which we have already studied.
2.
The
Jewish Setting. The
3.
The
Divine Perspective. “The Jewish War is God’s holy judgment upon the Jews for
their wickedly crucifying his Son.” His footnote fully quotes the NT
references establishing the Jewish culpability in this matter. He refers
to the Parable of the Vineyard (Matt.21:37-41) and Jesus’ lament over the city
(Luke 19:41-44).
4.
The
Noahic Flood. A few verses after the Matthew 21 Parable, in verses 38
and 39 Jesus refers to the Noahic Flood when the entire world is
destroyed, saving one family only. The Futurists
predisposition causes them to overlook this verse.
5.
Prophetic
Parlance.
“This unique-event language is common stock-in-trade in prophetic
writing.” says Gentry. Quoting
i. Concerning the tenth plague on
ii. Ezekiel prophesies concerning a future
Babylonian captivity and destruction of
iii. Concerning the Babylonian
captivity, Daniel also uses this Semetic hyperbole. In chapter 9 verse
twelve he says, “And he has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and
against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us a great disaster; for under
the whole heaven such never has been done as what has been done to
Having
regard to the style of Scripture language would save us from building foolish
doctrines upon faulty exegesis.
Chapter 8
The Golden Altar of Incense (8:3)
This verse is instructive in that it gives us an insight into the
heavenly activity when God’s people pray. Our prayers are gathered
up, “incensed” by the angel, and the mixture is allowed to ascend as a sweet
odour acceptable unto the Lord. This is what would have happened to
the imprecatory prayers of the martyred saints as recorded in Rev.6:10, “And
they cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost
thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell
on the earth?’”
I have already referred to this “phenomena” in our “age of grace” under
the section covering that verse. But the result of these prayers is
now given. “And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the
altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and
lightnings, and an earthquake. And the angels which
had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.” This phenomena we are familiar with from our study of the
“cloud-comings” of the Lord from what we read in Exodus 19:16 and 18 when the
Lord came down to Sinai.
Concerning the fire cast down to earth from the censer Chilton sees an instructive
connection with the OT. He says,
The
irony of this passage becomes obvious when we keep in mind that it is a
prophecy against apostate
But J Massyngberde Ford (Revelation: Introduction, Translation,
and Commentary 1975 p.135ff.) as quoted by Chilton (ibid. p.235) notes some
interesting “reverse” features on the significance of the altar of incense,
1.
From the Throne and altar, the “mercy seat,” comes
wrath;
2.
Incense, the “soothing aroma to the LORD” (Lev.1:13), becomes an agent
of death (cf. 2 Cor.2:14-16);
3.
The trumpets, which called
4.
The heavenly liturgy itself, appointed for
Remarks upon the Trumpets
I have said
in an earlier part of this paper that what I have to say is a key to the
interpretation of the Book of Revelation. And, whether or not you
think I have totally succeeded, I am sufficiently confident in what I have
written so far as to think it worth putting into writing.
Yet, when I
come to the chapters dealing with the Trumpets and Bowls I am much less
confident. In fact, I would happily omit contributing anything on
them because they are so much more difficult to “get a handle
on.” Would this seem to suggest that somewhere I have “lost
the trail”? No I do not believe this. For, it is
certain that these judgments are included, with most of the rest of the Book,
to be poured on “on this generation”.
Others have
recognised this difficulty. Milton Terry (Biblical
Hermeneutics p.471) has this to say, “The opening of the sixth seal brought
us to the very verge of doom, and we might naturally suppose that the seventh
would usher in the ultimate consummation. But it issues in the
vision of the seven trumpets, which traverses a part of the same field again,
and awfully portrays the signs, wonders, and horrors indicated by the symbols
of the sixth seal. These trumpet woes we understand to be a highly
wrought picture of the fearful sights and great signs from heaven of which
Jesus spoke, the abomination of desolation, Jerusalem compassed with armies,
and ‘signs in the sun and moon and stars; and upon the land distress of nations
in perplexity for the roaring of the sea and the billows; men fainting for fear
and for expectation of the things coming on the world’ (Luke 21:25, 26).
As he says,
they are “a highly wrought picture.” I agree with this, providing
that he does not mean “over wrought.” For, even these awful,
horrifying symbols of the judgments to be poured upon Judea and
But
although they are totally appropriate in their graphic depictions of the
miseries to come, they are not blueprints or charts where every feature has
significance. In a footnote to the above
quotation from Milton Terry, he quotes Bleek (Lectures on the Apocalypse p.228.
So, in
looking at the Trumpets and Bowls, I have sought to find a main feature
relating to this “great tribulation”, without seeking to press each
detail. As the use of trumpets in ancient
I have dealt earlier in this paper (Ch.7.c. p.27) with the Biblical and
Covenantal aspects of the Great Tribulation, and I have stated above how
entirely appropriate to
We are indebted to Chilton (Days of Vengeance) for a digest of
what Josephus has recorded. Prefacing this (p.189, 190) he says, “But if
God removes [His] restraints, man’s ethical degeneracy is revealed in all its
ugliness. John Calvin wrote: ‘The mind of man has been so
completely estranged from God’s righteousness that it conceives, desires, and
undertakes, only that which is impious, perverted, foul impure, and
infamous. The heart is so steeped in the poison of sin, that it can breathe out nothing but a loathsome stench.
. . .’” (Institutes of the Christian Religion
ii.v.19 Ford Lewis Battles trans. Westminster Press, 1960, p.340).
Chilton confirms, “All this was abundantly fulfilled in Israel and the
surrounding nations during the Last Days, when the Land was filled murderers,
revolutionaries, and terrorists of every description;” and, quoting Josephus,
“‘every city was divided into two armies encamped against one another, and the
preservation of the one party was in the destruction of the other; so the
day-time was spent in the shedding of blood, and the night in fear. . . It was
then common to see cities filled with dead bodies, still lying unburied, and
those of old men, mixed with infants, all dead, and scattered about together;
women also lay amongst them, without any covering for their nakedness; you
might then see the whole province full of inexpressible calamities, while dread
of still more barbarous practices which were threatened, was everywhere greater
than what had been already perpetrated’” (The Jewish War, ii.xviii.2).
Concerning the famine Josephus records, “As the famine grew worse, the
frenzy of the insurgents kept pace with it, and every day both these horrors
burned more fiercely. For, since nowhere was grain to be seen, men
would break into houses, and if they found some they mistreated the occupants
for having denied their possession of it; if they found none, they tortured
them as if they had concealed it more carefully. Proof whether they
had food or not was provided by the physical appearance of the wretches; those
still in good condition were deemed to be well provided with food, while those
who were already wasting away were passed over, for it seemed pointless to kill
persons who would soon die of starvation. Many secretly bartered
their possessions for a single measure of wheat if they happened to be rich,
barley if they were poor. Then they shut themselves up in the darkest corners of
their houses; in the extremity of hunger some even ate their grain underground,
while others baked it, guided by necessity and fear. Nowhere was a table laid – the food was snatched halfcooked from
the fire and torn into pieces” (v.x.2). Similarity with the
famine conditions described under the third horseman (6:5-6) will not be lost
on my reader.
Concerning the “Satanic gangs of murderous Zealots that preyed on the
citizens of
“Describing the excessive impiety of the Jewish leaders,” says Milton
Terry (Biblical Hermeneutics p.472), Josephus remarks: ‘No age ever bred
a generation more fruitful in wickedness than this was from the beginning of
the world.’ ‘I suppose that had the Romans made any longer delay in
coming against these villains the city would either have been swallowed up by
the ground opening upon them, or been overwhelmed by water, or else been
destroyed by such thunder as the country of Sodom perished by; for it had
brought forth a generation of men much more atheistical than were those that
suffered such punishments; for by their madness it was that all the people came
to be destroyed.’ Was not some fact like this before
the mind of our Lord when he spoke of the unclean spirit that took seven others
more wicked than himself, and returned and entered the
house from which he had been cast out? ‘So shall it be,’ said he, ‘with
this wicked generation’” Matt.12:43-45).
These excerpts from Josephus provide a historical background by which we
can see the entire conformity of the woes which came upon the Jewish people in
keeping with the curses on covenant-breakers set out in Deut.28:15-68.
We shall
now look at the trumpet and bowl judgments along the lines outlined above.
The First Trumpet (8:6-7)
Reference
has already been made of the selection of the plagues on
Quoting Josephus, Chilton (Ibid. p.237 records), “The
countryside, like the city, was a pitiful sight, for where once there had been
a multitude of trees and parks, there was now an utter wilderness stripped bare
of timber; and no stranger who had seen the old Judea and the glorious suburbs
of her capital, and beheld utter desolation, could refrain from tears or
suppress a groan at so terrible a change. The war had blotted out
every trace of beauty, and no one who had known it in the past and came upon it
suddenly would have recognized the place, for though he was already there, he
would still have been looking for the city.” (vi.i.1.)
The Second Trumpet (8:8-9)
Here we
have “something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the
sea…” (v.8). Philip Mauro in his The Patmos Visions
(Hamilton Bros. 1925, p.286) points out that a mountain in Scripture is
the symbol for a nation.
According
to Rev.17:15 the sea represents the nations. And which people were,
nationally, uprooted from their land, and burning with God’s wrath, cast into
the sea of the nations of the Roman Empire but
The Third Trumpet (8:10-11)
The
reference to the “waters being made bitter” brings our thoughts to the
first plague on
The Fourth Trumpet
(8:12-13)
Here we
have the heavenly bodies smitten, which is familiar prophetic imagery for the
fall of rulers and nations. I have already alluded to the near
death-throes of the
The
eagle-messenger of further judgments promises yet further woes still to come,
each of an intensifying character. Birds in Scripture are used to
portray the devouring of either rotting flesh of the carcase of the Jewish
nation, or destruction of crops. (cf. Matt.13 and parallels,
Matt.24:28, Rev.19:17-19).
The Fifth Trumpet (9:1-12)
The
imagery of these denizens released from the Abyss is bizarre.
Concerning this and other portions of a similar nature Albertus Pieters (Studies
in The Revelation of St John Wm B Eerdmans Pub Co 1954, p128-129) gives up
entirely the attempt to interpret them. “If you ask me what all
this means, and expect that I shall be able to point to something in history
that corresponds to the. . . .locusts from the pit. .
.I can not answer. I am sorry to disappoint my readers, and to
appear so ignorant, but really, I do not know what these things mean. . . .For
me they have no meaning, and I am comforted to find myself, in this respect, in
the excellent company of men like Alford, Swete, and others, who either openly confess that they can not interpret them, or silently pass
them by.”
I
certainly would not wish to put myself on a pedestal above these worthies, yet
I cannot but feel that perhaps an understanding of prophetic imagery and the
histories of the Jewish nation have advanced since the days of Alford, Swete
and Pieters, so that we can, at least, attempt at grasping the main idea
behind the picture.
One thing
we can say with certainty is that whatever these creatures represent, they
originate in the realm of the demonic, and that mankind is a
suitable vehicle for the demonic. One has only to think of the
dreadful genocide, and death camps of Nazi Germany,
Stalin’s Gulags, and the internecine butcheries which are taking place on the
African continent today, to see the manifestation of the demonic in human
behaviour.
That
society became demonic in behaviour we have already seen. Chilton sums up in the
following words, “The entire generation became increasingly demon-possessed;
their progressive national insanity is apparent as one reads through the New
Testament, and its horrifying final stages are depicted in the pages of
Josephus’ The Jewish War: the loss of all ability to reason, the
frenzied mobs attacking one another, the deluded multitudes following after the
most transparently false prophets, the crazed and desperate chase after food,
the murders, executions, and suicides, the fathers slaughtering their own
families and the mothers eating their own children. Satan and the
host of hell simply swarmed throughout the
Verses 3
and 10 of our chapter indicate that these creatures from the Abyss have tails
like scorpions. In Luke 10:19 scorpions are a figure of evil, and
their inclusion in the imagery of our chapter suggests that spiritual
power is part of their weaponry. Josephus tells us that during the
siege of
The
locust imagery having the appearance of horsemen (9:7) coincides with that of
Joel’s vision of locusts (1:4) that were Assyrian horsemen (2:4) sweeping over
the land will not be overlooked. . Both the false
prophets and the armies of
The Sixth trumpet (9:13-21)
There is
a similarity between the release of vast hordes of armies from across the
We see
similarity also between the fifth and sixth trumpets in that “the power of the
horses is in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents
and have heads; and with them they do harm (v.19). Here, again,
there is in their equipment the spiritual power of the serpents.
But
madness has seized the populace, and, despite the fact that there was still
opportunity to repent, they still engaged in their idolatrous worship, and
murderous and immoral acts. In the words of Josephus, “Thus were
the miserable people beguiled by these charlatans and false messengers of God,
while they disregarded and disbelieved the unmistakable portents that
foreshadowed the coming desolation; but, as though thunderstruck, blind,
senseless, paid no heed to the clear warnings of God” (The Jewish War
vi.v.3 quoted Chilton Ibid.p.253).
The Strong Angel with the Little Book (10:1-11)
There can
be little doubt, in view of the close correspondence with so many features of
Christ as revealed in Chapter 1 of the Book of Revelation that this also is
none other than Christ, the Son of God. His stance proclaims His
sovereignty over the Nations and
There
were, however, elements represented by the seven thunders which John was told
to seal up. Does not this warn our futurist friends that the
subjects of the Apocalypse relate to things near at hand (“there shall be delay
no longer”) and not those things of the “end-time”?
John is
then instructed to take the little book and eat it in the same manner as
Ezekiel, and, like that prophet found that the
contents, although sweet to the taste are bitter to his digestion.
The ongoing victories of the New Covenant and the establishment of the Church
are matters which were sweet to the taste of John the Apostle. But
the miseries coming upon the people of
The Two Witnesses (11:1-14)
I have
already dealt with the significance of the measuring of the
The two
witnesses - are they real personages, or are they symbolic only? If
they were historical characters, there is the difficulty of identifying
them. Milton Terry believes that they are historical characters,
but can offer nothing very certain as to whom they were. For, says
he, “history has left no more record of them than of Antipas, the faithful
witness of
It is
rather incredible, if these are two real historical characters who exercised
such a powerful and miraculous ministry during the siege of
So all
this is rather suggestive that John intends us to understand that they are
symbolic. Again, Chilton (Ibid. p.276-284) is
helpful. Practically every feature of the imagery given to
describe these personages relates back to the OT.
Consider
the following
i)
The Witnesses are
clothed in sackcloth. The traditional dress of prophets who
testified against
ii)
The Witnesses are
described as two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord
of the earth (Zech.4:1-5). Joshua
and Zerubbabel were members of the priesthood and the royal house
respectively. The New Covenant people are also kings and priests
unto God (Rev1:6).
iii)
Fire proceeds from
their mouths to devour their enemies. Moses (Num.16:35) and Elijah (2
Kings 1:9-12) both caused this to happen.
iv)
The Witnesses have power to shut the
heavens and withhold rain, as did Elijah (1 Kings 17).
v)
The Witnesses have
power to turn water into blood and to smite the earth with plagues, as did
Moses.
The
consistent picture is that of the continuing testimony of God against
We then
read that when their testimony is completed the Beast from the abyss makes war
against them and slays them. With the commencement of the Jewish
War in 67AD began the persecution of the Church under Nero, and her overt
witness was effectively silenced. The united efforts of Jews
and Romans, initiated immediately after Pentecost and
continued with varying intensity until now has at last been successful.
As with the persecution of Christ Himself by the Sanhedrim and the Romans, and
their sending Him to Herod, so Herod and Pilate that day were reunited and
peace was made between them. So now, the apostates in
Their
“refusal to allow the bodies to be laid in a tomb” but accentuates the contempt
which the Church was held in during those dark days preceding the final demise
of
The Earthquake (11:13-14) and Seventh Trumpet
(11:15-19)
In
keeping with the symbolic nature of the earlier contents of this chapter, I
take this earthquake to be symbolic.
The Trumpets
were warnings to
So, with
the excision of the old Jewish economy from the Church having begun, the hosts
of heaven break forth into praise “The kingdom of the world has become the
Kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever” (11:15).
Verses 17 and 18 continue the praise in the words of the twenty-four enthroned
Elders who are representatives of the universal Church, both Old and New
Testament. The prayers of the white robed martyrs under the fifth
seal of chapter 6:9-11 are now being answered, “. . . the time of the dead
that they should be vindicated, and the time to give their reward to Thy
servants the prophets and to the saints and to those who fear Thy name, the
small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.” This
is the beginning of the answer to the mystery of evil apparently going
unpunished. All wrongdoing will have its retribution, if not at the
time of its committal, then in God’s timing. And what is happening
to evil regimes in history, will, for the individuals concerned, take place in
eternity at the Great White Throne. But the destruction of evil
regimes is an interim vindication and reward to those who have been martyred
who will fully receive their reward at the time that the wicked are finally
judged.
Finally,
in verse nineteen we have the now familiar picture of the heavenly
We have
now come to the end of the first of the two major sections of the
book. You will remember that the first section related to the
‘Revelation of the Lamb’. The second section relates to the
‘Revelation of the Bride’. The second section does not
chronologically follow the first section. They cover the same
period of time. But they are viewed from different standpoints.
This is
common in prophetic pictures. One has only to think of visions of
the fat and the lean cattle, and the dreams of the
The first
section pictures the wrath of the Lamb and the pouring out of his judgments
upon the apostate city, with the destruction of the
The Sun-clothed Woman; her Seed and the Dragon
(12:1-17)
Interestingly,
this is one section where there is considerable agreement amongst the various
expositors as to its interpretation.
Most are
unanimous in understanding the Woman to represent Old Covenant
The great
red, bloody, Dragon is clearly the Old Serpent, the Devil, and, being foiled in
his plans to destroy the Christ, makes war with the rest of her seed, the
church. This was seen in the bitter persecutions during the times
of the Apostles, and under Nero, but the Church was Divinely
preserved,
and this
was especially seen in her flight to shelter in
That the
Dragon had seven heads and ten horns provides an identity with the terrible
beasts of the Book of Daniel (chapter 7:3-7). His bestial nature is
worked out in the opposition of these empires to the
But,
following the triumphant ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ to heaven, where he
is invested with all authority and power, we read in verse 7 that Michael the
archangel initiated a war against the dragon and his angels and overcame
them. The result of this victory was that the dragon and his angels
had no more place in heaven, but were cast into the earth.
The
results of this casting down reverberate throughout the Land and the earth in
their significance. It stirred up the Devil’s wrath, and gave
rise to the warning to the dwellers therein – we have already seen the horrific
events that took place during the siege of
Forever
the nations of the world were changed after
The final
picture in this section of chapter twelve commences at verse
thirteen. As a result of his casting out he persecutes the
Church in the Land. This is important to see. The
very persecutions of the Church are a mark of the defeat of the Evil
One. So, throughout that short period of 1260 days mentioned in
verse 6, the “woman is given two wings of a great eagle that she may fly into
the wilderness, where she is nourished for a time, times and half a time – the
same period as 1260 days, or 3-1/2 years.
The
persecution of the Church under Nero is pictured as a flood of water issuing
from the mouth of the serpent, but, as we have seen, the Christians fled, and
the apostate inhabitants of Judea and
failure
to destroy the Woman, the Devil’s persecuting activity was extended to “the
remnant of her seed” (verse 17). This pattern of persecution –
overcoming – flight – deliverance – overcoming: even to the extent of the
shedding of blood would be seen in the future histories of the Church down
through the centuries, always reminding us that Christ has conquered, and we
share His victory!
The Beast from the Sea (13:1-10)
The Beast
arising from the sea has already been identified as the
The
beasts listed in verse two – the leopard, bear and lion, are identical with
those of the first three kingdoms in Daniel chapter seven, but in reverse
order. The fourth beast of Daniel is dreadful, and terrible
(Dan.7:7), but is described only in relation to its teeth and feet which it
uses to destroy, and that it had ten horns. Representing the
As I have
indicated earlier, it was Nero who, at the instigation of the Jews initiated
the persecution of the Church because it (those whose names are written in the
Book of Life of the Lamb) refused to enter into the cult of Emperor-worship
headed up and perfected by Nero. And, although eventually his
excesses of cruelty both to his own family, but also to the church, disgusted
his contemporaries, he was popular among many and was adulated and adored and
put beyond comparison (cf. v4). But his death is predicted in verse
10, and the manner of it was previously referred to.
The Beast from the Earth (13:11-18)
The beast
from the sea was in the image of the Dragon. The Beast from the
earth is in the image of that from the sea. As with so much of the
text in the apocalypse, the word “earth”, since the locale is
The
hallmark of false prophecy was that it led
One of
the results of rejection of the world’s religion, in this case Emperor-worship,
is that economic sanctions are incurred. Clearly, this was imposed
upon Christians in the
In
Dispensational, and Futurist theology, literalism is a big thing – the mark of
the Beast was to enforce economic sanctions upon non-conformers.
But there is nothing special in this; why do we have to await
the end times? Economic sanctions have been part of the lifestyle
incurred as a penalty throughout the ages for being Christians, and many such
suffer so today.
The 144,000 (14:1-5)
I have
already referred extensively to this company when comparing it (page 26) with
the sealed remnant and numberless multitude of Revelation chapter
7. We saw that the “sealed” company of chapter 7 was the “remnant”
of Jews who had become members of the
I
therefore equate this company with those. It is, at
least, the Church comprising the Jewish “Remnant”, more probably the whole
Church comprising both Jews and Gentiles.
We are
told that they were “purchased” from among men (14:5), “. . . .having His name, and the name of His Father written on their
foreheads” (v.1).
They are
“standing on
So, this
company, though having to face the trinity of evil in the Dragon and the Beasts
from the sea and the earth, will be triumphant, and in the face of persecution
and even shedding of their blood, can sing the New Song before the
throne of God.
Of
course, the Church on earth and the Church in glory are one.
What is pictured of the one, is true of the
other. We need to bear in mind that the immediate subjects of the
text are the churches in
The Gospel is Preached, the Fall
of
It is all
too easy for us to focus upon the Beast and his activities, and overlook that
during all this period the everlasting Gospel was preached with power and
effect.
An
“angel” (the first in this section) has the “everlasting gospel” to
preach. Angels do not, in the normal order of things, preach the
Gospel. This is given to redeemed men and women. If the
identity of the “angels” of the seven churches of Revelation 2 & 3 is that
they are the elders of the churches, then this could mean that the angel
strengthens and supports and protects those who preach. Angels are, after
all, sent to be “ministers for them who shall be heirs of salvation”
(Heb.1:14).
It is
plain, too, that it is the Gospel as we know it. There is only one
Gospel in the NT. Paul makes this clear to the Galatian Christians
(1:6-9). It is the Gospel of the Kingdom, interchangeably either of
heaven (Matthew) or of God. Its message is repentance and faith
in our Lord Jesus Christ, in his atoning work on
Elements
of fear Luke 12:5; Acts 10:35), giving glory (Matt.5:16; 9:8;
15:31), judgment has come (John 12:31; 16:8-11), God the Creator (Acts
14:15; 17:24-31) are all to be found in NT preaching.
The
Gospel is to be preached both to those in “the Land” and to every
nation - “To the Jew first, and also to the Gentile” (Rom. 1:16).
A second
angel announces the impending fall of
A third
angel announces the judgment of God upon those who worship the Beast and
receive his mark. Those Jews or Gentiles who choose to drink from the
filthy cup of the spiritual fornications of the
Woman who
rides the Beast (chapter 17:4), would find that they have to drink also from
the cup of “. . . .the wine of the wrath of God,
which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his
indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of
the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of
their torment ascends up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the Beast and his image, and
whosoever receives the mark of his name” (Rev. 14:10, 11).
Let us
not baulk at statements like these in Holy Writ. Sin, chosen,
relished and persisted in, unrepented of, and therefore unforgiven, is an
eternal affront to a thrice holy God, and merits eternal
damnation. God himself has done all that he possibly can to provide
an answer in the death of his holy Son on the cross to deliver all from the
outworking of sin. He can do no more, and those who suffer this
fate are those who, after having fully heard the Gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ, deliberately choose to continue in rebellion against Him.
Heaven has no place for them; neither would they find it to their
liking. Their hell is of their own choice. This message of the
angel is part of the everlasting Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ which must
nevertheless be faithfully preached to men and women who persist in sin, and
make choice of it and love it in preference to bowing the knee to our Lord
Jesus Christ and accepting his deliverance.
What a
contrast to this is the promise to those who “. . .keep
the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus Christ”
(14:12). This “. . .is the patience of
the saints” (v.12). And, “Blessed are the dead which die in
the Lord from henceforth: Yea, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their
labours; and their works do follow them” (v. 13). For the
Christian, death no longer has terror. Christ has removed the fear
of death by his own overcoming of it in resurrection to the glory of the
Father. All who die in Christ follow Him. (John 14:2, 3;
Heb.2:14, 15).
The Son of Man; Harvest and Vintage (14:14-20)
“The
hour has come”! The Son of man is seen seated upon a white cloud.
This is not his Second Coming. He does not descend to the earth, but he
is instructed to “cast” in his sickle. But it is the
finale of the drama which began with His birth, death, burial, resurrection and
ascension and judgment upon his foes, and establishment of his Kingdom
without ex-Covenant apostates as rivals. The City and
The Song of Victory over the Beast (15:1-4)
We are
told, first, that John sees “. . . .seven angels,
having seven plagues, the last; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.”
We are not to think that this is a scene to be set prior to the end of the
world. The subject of Revelation throughout has been that of the
victory of the Lamb, issuing in the manifestation of his wrath against the
apostate people of
The
outcome has never been in doubt. And, in keeping with this we are
now shown in verses 2-4 those “. . . that had gotten the victory over the
beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and
over
the number of his name, stand[ing] on the sea of glass, having the harps of
God.” These
are they who had lost their lives, but had conquered by not yielding. Thus
they followed their Lord through death to exaltation to the heavens, and they
now share the victory with him. They sing the song “. . .of Moses and the Lamb.” It is not a
repetition of the same words of the OT, but rather shares the same characteristics
in its rejoicing over the destruction of their foes, and this results in the
surrounding nations fearing God and giving him glory (cf. Josh.
2:9-11).
So we
find that even at this late stage of God’s judgments against
The
We are
told that one of the four living creatures which surround the throne and is
attendant upon the Most High gives to the seven angels the seven last plagues
which contain the wrath of God. These plagues are no add-on, no
after-thought; they come from the very heart of God, and are intended to
exactly match the punishment and, where possible even at this late stage, the
reclamation of the people.
Note also
the characteristic of a bowl; unlike the trumpet’s long blast, the contents of
a bowl can be emptied very quickly. It will be recognised that
there is a similarity between these bowls and the trumpet judgments of chapters
8-11. Therefore, as with them, so with these,
they are reminiscent of the plagues poured upon
The Seven Last Plagues Pictured as Bowls
(15:1-21)
Concerning this similarity between the Trumpet judgments and those of
the Bowls.
We have already seen in connection with the two main sections of the Apocalypse
between the 11th and 12th chapters (see p.7), that the
order is not chronological, but repetition, albeit with different or only
similar symbols. We saw that this is a Hebraic
device to give emphasis, and we may well have a similar arrangement here, that
the similarity between Trumpets and Bowls is not chronological but
repetition. The repetition is the equivalent of the “truly, truly,
I say unto you” of the Gospels. It declares certainty (See
Milton Terry Biblical Hermeneutics p.478). Nevertheless, the
repetition has come at a later stage in the Book of Revelation, and we shall
see if we can, where possible, assign a historical outworking of the
Bowls.
The
first Bowl-plague
(v.2) was that of loathsome and malignant sores upon those who had rendered
worship to the beast and had received his mark and had therefore become moulded
in his characteristics.
The second Bowl-plague, Chilton suggests could refer to
the occasion of the
massacre by the Romans of the Jewish rebels at Tarichaeae.
Thousands fled to the
The
third Bowl-plague
resembles the third Trumpet in that the curse is upon the rivers and springs of
water, turning them to blood. There is a quid quo pro here.
They were thirsty to shed blood. Now they will be forced to
drink blood. “They are worthy”! (v.6). There was
pollution of water sources during the siege of
The
fourth bowl-plague
angel has power to scorch men with the heat of the sun. This is the
removal of the basic covenantal blessings of God toward mankind, in whatever
way it was manifested during the siege of
The fifth bowl-plague. When the fifth angel pours out his bowl upon
the throne of the beast, it has power to produce darkness throughout his
kingdom. This reminds us of the ninth plague upon
The sixth bowl-plague. The sixth angel pours out
his bowl “. . .upon the great river, the
Still part
of the sixth Bowl, John now sees three frogs proceed from the mouth[s] of
the Dragon and the Beast and the False Prophet. This is similar
to the second plague on
told that
they represent unclean spirits, performing signs. The
frogs, therefore, come from the mouths of the Devil, the Roman government and
the leaders of
Chilton
connects this with Paul’s prophecy in II Thessalonians 2:7-12, “For the mystery
of lawlessness is already at work;. . . .then that
lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the Breath of His
mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His Coming; that is, the one
whose coming is in accordance with the activity of Satan, with all power and
signs and false wonders,. . . .because they did not
receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. And for this
reason God will send upon them a work of delusion that they might believe the
lie…” (Days of Vengeance p.409).
Both in the death of Nero, and in the final destruction of the Temple, City and
Nation, with all its evil supernatural signs and delusions used by false
Christs and false prophets, will all God’s eternal purposes be fulfilled.
The
application of II Thess. 2 to the events of 70AD will leave Futurists
breathless for such have imbibed it with their mother’s milk that this passage
has been the very basis for the major concept of a future “man of sin”
(v.3). This subject, therefore, calls for some
discussion.
But how can
Futurists suddenly project a vision embedded in the contents of a book relating
to the 1st century into the far distant future?
Answer. In the same way that they consign the
bulk of the Book of Revelation into the future by ignoring time frame texts.
By an automatic relegation
of phrases such as “day of Christ,” “coming of Christ”, our “gathering unto
him” out of the context, into the times before the Second coming.
And by using a crassly literal hermeneutic which does not
recognise the use of symbolic language as used in scripture.
To deal
with the passage in Thessalonians thoroughly would require a lengthy section,
which would be an unwarranted digression. But I will give a few
pointers in the right direction.
Firstly,
early in this paper (p.22) I dealt with the fact that the “coming of the
Lord/Christ” etc. in both OT and NT often speaks of the manifestation of his
judgments in a local context. So it is here in v.1.
Secondly,
the word “gathering” (v.1) is a translation of the Greek word episunagogue.
This word is never used for the “rapture” of I Thess. 4:17.
As Gary DeMar pithily asks in his Last Days Madness (American Vision
p.276) “For those who claim that it is, we must ask why Paul would use a
different word in his second letter to clear up a supposed misunderstanding
about what the Thessalonians thought he meant concerning “our being caught up”
in his first letter?...The answer is quite obvious. Paul is
discussing two separate events.” He goes on to explain that the
period AD30 to AD70 was a transitional period when many Christians still met in
the synagogues and
all-inclusive New Covenant people of God. This was finally effected by the destruction of the old
Thirdly, it
is clear that the Thessalonian Christians knew what he was referring
to. They knew that “the mystery of lawlessness is already at
work”. And, he says, “you
know what restrains him now”.
Fourthly,
they thought that the “day of the Lord” was past. But, as with the expression “coming of the Lord”, etc., so this one
is usually applicable to a local situation – in this case the destruction of
Finally,
there is, therefore no reason to project this “man of sin” into a series of
(imagined) events immediately prior to the Second Coming of Christ.
There are, actually, a number of candidates who fit the description
well. Nero is our first choice, featuring, as he does, so
prominently in this period immediately prior to the events of 70AD.
But Titus the Roman commander, has been credibly
suggested. Based upon the “apostasy” which had first to occur, and
which adequately describes the
rebellion
of the Jewish nation, Phannias the high priest has been suggested.
Demar elaborately works out this suggestion as one of the best over pages
292-303 of his work referred to in the second section above.
Whatever
were the exact fulfilment of the details, of which the Thessalonians were well
aware, it is quite certain that the personage and events he referred to were
contemporary to them, even if the precise application has been lost to us.
Returning to our chapter. We then have the warning given
that the coming of Christ in judgment upon the city and temple will be swift
and unannounced, “Behold, I come as a thief” (v.15). The
reference to the loss of garments by the slothful relates to inspections of the
God then
gathers his demon-inspired foes to “Armageddon” (v.16). The
name is symbolical. There is no such place. Literally,
it should be spelt “Har-Magedon”, meaning
The
seventh bowl-plague
(v.17) brings us to the finale in the destruction of
Verse 20
tells us that “every island fled away.” No refuge can be
found for the enemies of God. We are reminded of the graphic
picture of his enemies calling for the mountains to fall on them to hide them
from the face of him who sits upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb
(6:15-17).
Again we
have imagery in verse 21 that is borrowed from the plagues upon
To this end
we are ushered into the next chapters by one of the angels who poured one of
the Bowls upon the city, and we may therefore consider these further scenes an
expansion of the seventh and final Bowl.
The Harlot Riding the Beast (17:1-7)
The harlot
is identified by the name “
But to this
city-picture has been added the description of “the great whore” (v.1
KJV). To further identify the whore with
The concept
of spiritual harlotry is very common in the Old Testament from which this
picture is taken. Repeatedly in the OT we are told that
We are also
told that “. . .the inhabitants of the Land are
made drunk with the wine of her fornication” (v.2.). There is
an old saying “whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.”
This has been enacted countless times throughout history, ancient and
modern. To what else can we attribute the atrocities of
genocide? We have already seen how that
The Mystery of the Beast Explained (17:8-18)
The
character and activities of the Beast were discussed in pages 15 & 16 of
Part I of this paper, and there is little that needs to be added.
For the sake of context the reader may wish to refer to those pages and fill in
any extra details in the light of them.
But I need
to refer to the additional feature told us in verse 16, “. . . the ten horns.
. .shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and eat her
flesh and burn her with fire…” Here we have the dreadful picture of cannibalism. But
true it was that her lovers hated her. The Romans eventually turned
upon her in wrath and destroyed her. She, who “reigned” over them
through her leadership in idolatries –she who held the cup of her filthy fornications
out to them, who made them drunk with her wine - was
destroyed by them.
The Fall of Mystic
We are now
shown a further picture of the fall of
Under the
guidance of the Spirit of God, John makes much use of the pictures of God’s
judgment against certain cities in the OT. These are drawn from the
prophecies of Jeremiah ch.51, Isaiah ch.13, Ezekiel ch.26-28 and others.
We have
already seen how the fall of
But, all
must cease, to the grief of both Jews and
Gentiles. That her true identity is
But if it
is grief to the enemies of God, it is a matter of rejoicing in
heaven. “Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and you holy apostles
and prophets, for God has avenged you on her” (v.20). We 21st.
century Western Christians feel that it is “unchristian” to rejoice in the
judgments of God. But we need to share God’s viewpoint on
this. The OT is full of promises of blessing and protection for the
obedient people of God, and of destruction upon those who war against
him. Has he changed? Many would say yes. But I
must confess I have not seen any working out of this in theology. I
am not convinced it is either biblically or Christianly
defensible. I do not believe God has changed. If any
thought he had, has the Book of Revelation not changed your mind? Whilst
the “Christian” West has many problems, many of these have resulted I believe
from its forsaking of the Christian values on which our heritage is
based. God may even use the anti-Christian nations as a scourge to remind
us of our apostasy and bring us back to himself. Failing
that, we shall become his enemies, and perhaps be overwhelmed by them.
But the nations of the world who adopt an anti-Christian religion already have
their problems of internecine warfare and the inability to carve out for themselves
a place in the world. One has only to think of the Palestinians.
I have been
led into a bit of preaching, which is not the object of this essay.
But perhaps you will forgive me. I think it is the first time!
With these
few words on this lengthy chapter we must content ourselves.
The Marriage Supper of the Lamb (19:1-10)
The
heavenly rejoicing of our last chapter continues in this in verses
1-6. We then are introduced to the Bride of the Lamb, prepared for
marriage to him. Worthy of note in verse 7 is that “the fine
linen, clean and white” of her bridal attire is not that imputed
righteousness which is the possession of believers in Christ (II Cor.5:21), but
THAT “fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.” The
“righteous acts” are plural. Certainly, we read that the holy
garments “were given to her to clothe herself in fine linen.” They
were the gift of God. But she had to put them on. The
teaching is in line with Paul’s words to the Philippians “Work out your
salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to
will and to work for His good pleasure” (2:12-13).
Much is
made by our Dispensational friends, and rightly so, of “the marriage of the
Lamb.” But they, as usual, pluck out of thin air the idea that the
event takes place between “the Rapture” and the “second coming” of
Christ. This idea is entirely without biblical
authority. If we want to know what it represents, and when, we must
turn to its context in the portion of the Book we are studying.
Chilton has
pointed out (Days of Vengeance p.468) the close resemblance of these
verses with those of Rev.11:15-19 and they are well worth setting out for our
consideration, as follows:
11:15,17 – loud voices in
heaven
19:1 – a loud voice of a great
multitude in heaven.
11:15, 17 –
He will reign forever and ever. . .Thou hast 19:1, 6 –
Hallelujah,! Salvation and
taken Thy
great power and didst
reign.
Power and glory belong to our God. .
. . Hallelujah! For the Lord our God
the Almighty reigns.
11:16 – The
twenty-four elders. . .fell on their faces
and 19:4 –
The twenty-four elders. . . fell
worshipped
God.
fell down and worshipped God.
11:18 – The
time came for the dead to be vindicated, and
18:24 -19:2 – In her was found
the blood
the time
to give their reward to Thy servants the
prophets of prophets and
of saints. . . .His judgments
and to
the
saints.
are true and righteous; for. . .He has
avenged the blood of his servants.
11:18 – Thy
servants. . . those who fear Thy name, the 19:5
– All you his servants, you who fear
small and
the
great.
Him, the small and the great.
11:19 –
There were lightnings, noises, thunderings. . .
19:6 – The voice of a great multitude and
as the sound of many waters and as the
sound of mighty peals of thunder. . .
He
explains, “The appearance of the Bride, prepared for marriage, is thus
equivalent to the opening of the
Bride of
Christ and City of
“The
destruction of the Harlot and the marriage of the Lamb and the Bride – the divorce and the wedding – are
correlative events. (Ibid. p.473 emphasis
Chilton’s). The existence of the Church as the congregation
of the New Covenant marks an entirely new epoch in the history of
redemption. God was not now merely taking Gentile believers into
the Old Covenant (as He had often done under the Old Testament
economy). Rather, He was bringing in “the age to come” (Heb.2:5;
6:5), the age of fulfillment, during these Last Days. Pentecost was
the inception of a New covenant.
With the final divorce and destruction of the unfaithful wife in A.D. 70, the
marriage of the Church to her Lord was firmly established…”
She was a very special Church during the time of the Apostles. She
had to endure the persecution of the Dragon, the Beast from the sea, the Beast from the earth. She had to pass through “the
tribulation, the great” and come out victorious. She was worthy!
With the final separation of the Old from the New, the Gospel could go forth
throughout the
The Word of God goes to War (19:11-16)
We now come
to the first of the final seven visions of the Book of Revelation.
The closing events of the drama of the destruction of the
The rider
on the white horse is identified as Christ in all the four major systems of
interpretation of this Book. His eyes, as in chapter 1, “are a
flame of fire”. His name is “Faithful and True.”
Also as in chapter 1 “out of his mouth goes a sword”. That
with it “. . .He should smite the nations: and rule
them with a rod of iron” reminding us of the promises in Psalms 2 and 110,
and in Rev.12:5. We are told “. . .He
treads the winepress of the wine of the fierce wrath of God” reminding us
that it was this very act (see page 42 on Rev.14:20) which released unfettered
the preaching of the Gospel throughout the world leading to the Christianising
of the Empire, with its mixture of good and bad results.
But this is
not the “Parousia” - the second
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. For His present warfare is in dissemination
of the “Word of God”. It is by this means that here He
“slays” his enemies.
Your
arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies (Psalm 45:5).
He has
made my mouth like a sharp sword (Psalm 49:2).
I have
hewn them in pieces by the prophets:
I
have slain them by the words of my mouth (Hosea 6:5).
Psalm 2
reminds us that God has set his King on the holy hill of Zion. Ask of me,
says the LORD, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance. You
will rule (shepherd) them with a rod of iron.
All kings
must bow down and worship Him. All nations must submit to Him;
thus, all nations will be blessed. This is his
present programme - the evangelisation of all nations, and we, his Church are
associated with Him in this glorious work – the armies that are in
heaven…clothed in fine linen, white and clean. As we have
already seen, the Church, from God’s point of view, as shown by Paul and the
writer to the Hebrews, and now John, are seen as dwelling in the heavenlies, in
Christ Jesus.
The
evangelistic release comes immediately after the fall of
May you and
I rejoice in being called to share in this glorious work of gathering the elect.
The Disposal of
This second
vision portrays another great feast to be held in fulfillment of the prediction
of our Lord in Matthew 24:28 “for wherever the carcase is, there will the
eagles be gathered together”, the picture being drawn from Ezekiel
39:17-20. Chilton introduces the idea of a cleansing of the Land
by the beasts of prey. It had been defiled by those who occupied
it, and now, with the work of the gathering of the elect, which would include
those from Judea, throughout the empire, it was necessary to purge that
defilement (Days of Vengeance p. 490), since it has been throughout
defiled by blood (Rev.14:20). Thus is inaugurated “a
period of unprecedented power for the church…Finally, considered
systematically, judgment never occurs apart from accompanying
grace. The judgment of the beasts and their armies cleanses the
earth of their idolatry and liberates the saints” (Ibid. p.491).
The Disposal of the Beast and the False Prophet
(19:19-21)
Our third
vision shows the fulfillment of the warnings given in chapter 14:9-12 to the
followers of the Beast (the opposing, anti-God spirit that characterized both
Nero and his followers who persecuted and tortured the followers of the
Lamb). There we were told that they would drink of the wine of
God’s wrath, and be tormented day and night for ever in the presence of the
Lamb and of the holy angels. Here we are told that these, with the False
Prophet (the idolatrous apostate leaders of the Jews) who so led mankind astray
as to partake of the very nature of their master the Devil, are consigned to
that place of eternal misery.
The picture
of the “lake of fire burning with brimstone” is taken from the account
of the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen:19:24ff.),
and our Lord Jesus Christ Himself used similar imagery when he spoke of “. .
.to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: where their worm
dies not, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:42ff.). If the
symbol is awful, how much more must be the reality? Yet, I do not
write of this with relish, but rather with sorrow. Yet it was our
Lord Himself who broached such matters. If we call into doubt the
eternal damnation of the wicked, must we not also call into question the
eternal blessedness of the redeemed? For those who share my concern
about these things, and would like some more light on them, they may find this
in an article I wrote entitled The Destiny of the Unevangelised on a
website www.apocalipsis.org/unevangelised.htm
. From the Home Page, click on Eschatology Articles, and down the
page find the list of articles by Alan Nairne.
Satan Bound (20:1-3)
Those of my
readers who have patiently read and absorbed what has gone before will not have
difficulty in recognizing the imagery and interpreting this chapter of the Book
of Revelation.
John tells
us that he saw (this is the fourth and central of the seven last visions) an
angel who laid hold of the Dragon and consigned him to the Abyss.
Many commentators identify the angel as the Lord Jesus Christ. He
must, indeed, be a very powerful being who can lay hold of God and man’s
archenemy – “. . .the Dragon, that Old
Serpent. . . the Devil and Satan . . .” (v.2.), and bind him for “a
thousand years.”
When did
our Lord Jesus Christ bind Satan? The Gospels tell us that he
constantly waged war against the Devil and his hosts of tormenting
demons. He told his critics on one occasion, “. . .how can one enter a strong man’s house, and spoil his
goods, except he first bind the strong man? And then he will spoil his
house” Matthew 12:29 and parallels. The same scripture also
tells us, “. . .if I cast out demons by the Spirit
of God, then the
We are not
to conceive of Satan’s restriction as being total. His binding
relates to his being able to “. . . deceive the nations no more”
Rev.20:3. Prior to the coming of Christ the dominion of Satan over
the nations was total. For instance, cannibalism was endemic in
nearly every nation, whereas following the coming of Christ and the preaching
of the Gospel, cannibalism was much more restricted. The blindness
of the nations to the Good News of Jesus Christ was lifted, and whole nations
were affected by that message, so much so that nearly all of Europe was
evangelized and churches were established throughout, in addition to what had
been accomplished by the apostles around the
The Enthroned Church (20:4-6)
In the
fifth vision John saw “. . . .thrones, and they sat
upon them, and judgment was given unto them” (v.4). Who are
these who are enthroned? Throughout the Book we have been
acquainted with the twentyfour elders, and these could be referred
to. Yet, as they are representatives of the Church which shares
Christ’s throne in the heavenlies, we have both the living and the dead, who
are also enthroned, and represented. These live and reign with Him
throughout the whole Gospel era. This, we are told, “. . .is the first resurrection” (v.5).
This is the
matter referred to by our Lord Jesus Christ in John’s Gospel chapter
five. There he declares, “Truly, truly, I say unto you, He that
hears my word, and believes on him that sent me, has everlasting life, and
shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto
life. Truly, truly, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is,
when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall
live” (vv. 24-25). “This is the first resurrection”
(Rev.20:5). But the “…rest of the dead lived not again
until the thousand years were finished…blessed and holy is he that has part in
the first resurrection: on such the second death has no power, but they shall
be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years”
(Rev.20:5-6).
With the
passing of the Old Covenant priesthood, the New Covenant people of God are
constituted, “. . .living stones, are built
up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices,
acceptable to God by Jesus Christ” (I Peter 2:5). This is a primary function of the Church of
the Living God, to bring continual worship and praise to Him Who
has redeemed us, and also to bring to
the world
the Good News of the One who has delivered them from the thralldom of their
erstwhile enemy. This tremendous ministry was celebrated by the
twenty-four elders in Revelation chapter 5, “And they sang a new song,
saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for
you were slain, and redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred, and
tongue, and people, and nation: And have made us kings and priests [or a
kingdom of priests]: and we shall reign on the earth” (vv.9-10).
Concerning
the “. . . .rest of the dead. . .” we are
simply told that they are excluded from the sphere of eternal life and
blessedness experienced by those who live and reign with Christ.
Perhaps
someone has looked up this document, has gone straight to Revelation 20, and
thought, “let’s see what he has to say about the Millennium.” I am
sorry that I have not entered into a discussion about this pivotal chapter,
which often determines ones approach to the whole of the Apocalypse – but you
would not do that, would you?! Particularly as it is the only place in
the whole of Scripture where the “thousand years” is mentioned, and upon which
the Premillennial scheme is based. Or, it maybe that you have patiently slogged through each chapter
and are a little disappointed that my treatment of this chapter has been only
from a Preterist viewpoint. Well, if you have a strong
stomach I can refer you to a study in some depth extending to some twenty-odd
pages on the previously mentioned web site ( www.apocalypsis.org ). You
will gain access to an article I wrote some years ago entitled A Critique of
the Premillennial View of Scripture and a review of its Historical Development with
a Consideration of Revelation Chapter Twenty verses one to six. If that title does not put you off,
nothing will!
The Final Rebellion (20:7-9)
The
introduction to the thousand years has temporarily extended the time-frame
texts of “this generation” (Matt.24:34) and others like it of the “Little
Apocalypse” and the “must shortly come to pass” (Rev.1:1) of the Book of
Revelation. So we read “. . .when the
thousand years are finished, Satan shall be loosed. . . and shall go out to
deceive the nations. . .” (Rev.20:7-8). This is one of the
great mysteries of the counsels of our God. It is usually suggested
that it is to try the hearts of men, and to show their inveterately evil
nature. Perhaps so, but the Scripture long ago pronounced upon that
matter and came to the conclusion that “. . .the
heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. . .”
(Jer.17:9). But it is clear that however great may be the triumphs
of the Gospel by the end of the age, the world will not be totally Christianised. We may therefore
assume that in the interests of the principle to which God works, that before
final judgment the “iniquity of the Amorites” (Gen.15:16) must be
full, then time must be allowed for this to develop where it will.
What the nature of the assault upon the Church will be we do not
know. . (Again, for those interested in possibilities,
see the article on the web site). But the end, whether of literal
fire, or, more likely something pictured by it, the end will be
swift. Unlike the conquering by the sword of Christ’s mouth, the
Word of God, it will be entirely destructive for these totally reprobate
peoples. By then the Church also will have reached her
pristine beauty of being “. . .without spot, or
wrinkle, or any such thing. . . ” (Eph.5:27) and is ready for Rapture or
Resurrection at the Second Coming. The (for humankind) long-awaited
doom of the Devil himself will take place at this time. He will
join the Beast and the False Prophet into the eternal “lake of fire”, and the
Great White Throne judgment will take place.
As I have
indicated throughout this paper, I believe that the gospel will triumph
throughout the earth, however long it may take. Paul tells us
in Romans chapter 11 that when the full complement of the Gentiles have been
gathered in, there will be a great turning of ethnic Israelis to their Messiah,
and, prior to the Second Coming, it shall have come to pass that “. . .the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the LORD,
as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:9). For those of my
readers who may be interested in a study in Romans 11, I refer them to the
previously mentioned web site (http://www.apocalipsis.org/Israel-2.htm ) to a paper I wrote
in 2004 entitled Maturer thoughts on “All
The Great White Throne (20:11-15)
Within the
space of this paper there is nothing that I can write concerning this sixth
vision that is not written in most commentaries. But I have offered
some solutions outside of these to the question “who is saved” on this
occasion, in my paper What is the Destiny of
the Unevangelised? on http://www.apocalipsis.org/unevangelised.htm
to which I have already referred.
The City, the Bride and All Things New (21:1-8)
This
seventh vision commencing “and I saw” is the last of the series.
The images are those relating to the eternal state. All
prophets, whether Old or New Testament when picturing things outside of their
present experience have to use the colours of our present
condition. So
it is here. There is a new heaven and a new earth, but the people
of God, His redeemed Church, are still pictured as City and Bride, as they are
throughout the NT. Quoting Chilton (Days of Vengeance
p.538),
“Yet this
vision of the new heaven and earth is not to be interpreted as wholly
future. As we shall see repeatedly throughout our study of this
chapter, that which is to be absolutely and completely true in eternity is
definitively and progressively true now. Our enjoyment of our eternal
inheritance will be a continuation and perfection of what is true of the Church
in this life. We are not simply to look forward to the blessings of
Revelation 21 in an eternity to come, but to enjoy them and rejoice in them and
extend them here and now”.
“He who overcomes shall inherit these things” v.7. There are many things in Scripture that
are not envisaged – the unbaptised Christian, the Christian not associated with
a Church, a Christian who is not baptized in the Holy Spirit, and here, the
Christian who does not overcome. That all such have existed, and
will exist in the future is quite certain. But it is pointless to
speculate on where they “fit in” – for they do not. So it is of
paramount importance that we make quite certain that we have followed our Lord
Jesus Christ in all that He has commanded, and all that he has appointed and
provided for us, for our blessing, and His glory. Otherwise these
essential characteristics will be lacking on “that day”.
Those who
shall be excluded from this blessed company, both in time and in eternity,
which is in view here, are listed. In these days of compromise and
all-inclusiveness, they present a challenge to many who would claim to be
Christian and entitled to a place in our midst. There will be many surprises, and much anguish in “that day”. It is
true, also, that there will be many happy surprises which result in
blessedness
as I have sought to show in my paper on the Destiny of the
Unevangelised. But the eternal consequences are too great
to run risks. Let us all “. . .make
[our] calling and election sure. . .” (II Peter 1:10).
The New Jerusalem and
Again, I
have to write that there is nothing distinctive that I can say about these
highly symbolic sections of our Book. Clearly the Church is in
view, idealized as it will continue into eternity, yet its characteristics
already begun and highly honed on earth.
May I say
that this, too, is how our lives should be.
I believe that God’s purpose for His people is that their lives now should be
very much the shaping place against the slipping out of our earthly robe and
donning that which we shall have in the next life when we go to be with
Christ. Why should there be a great gulf of difference between then
and now? Has not our Lord Jesus provided “. . .all
things that pertain to life and godliness” (II Peter 1:3)? To
doubt, and thus to experience next to no “. . .chang[e]
into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
(II Cor.3:18) is to place oneself in
jeopardy.
The picture
of the “
Concluding Exhortations (22:6-21)
This
section leaves behind the images of glory in the eternal state, and we find
ourselves back into the first century AD. Five times he reminds us
(vv.6, 7, 10, 12 and 20) that the events covered in the main body of the Book
are close to fulfillment, and that we need to make certain that we fulfill in
our personal lives all that the Lord has commanded. “Blessed are
they that do his commandments, that they may have
right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city” (v.14).
“Surely I come quickly. Even so, come Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
* * * * * *
Alan Nairne January 2007
Bibliography
A list of books referred to
in the text, plus
some
additions which will be found helpful
Bahnsen, G & Gentry, K House Divided: The break-up of Dispensational Theology. Institute for Christian Economics, Tyler, Texas 1989
Chilton, David Paradise Restored: A Biblical Theology of Dominion. Reconstruction Press. Tyler, Texas. 1985.
Chilton, David The Days of Vengeance: An exposition of the Book of Revelation. Dominion Press, Tyler, Texas 1987, 1990
Gentry, Dr. Kenneth He Shall have Dominion: A Postmillennial Eschatology Institute for Christian Economics, Tyler, Texas 1992
Gentry, Dr. Kenneth Perilous Times: A Study in Eschatological Evil Covenant Media Press Texarkarna AR. 1999
Gentry,
Dr. Kenneth The Beast of Revelation Institute for Christian Economics.Tyler
Texas 1989 &1994
This is a condensed study of his Doctoral Dissertation Before Jerusalem Fell:
Dating the Book of Revelation 1989.
Gregg, Steve Revelation: Four views. A parallel commentary. Thos. Nelson. Nashville. 1997
Ice, Thos.& Gentry, K The Great Tribulation: Past or Future? Two Evangelicals Debate the Question. Kregel Pubs. Grand Rapids Mi.1999
Mathison, Keith A When Shall These Things Be? A Reformed Response to Hyper-Preterism P & R Pub. Phillipsburg NJ 2004
Russell,
James Stuart The Parousia: The New Testament Doctrine of Christ’s
Second Coming International Preterist Association 2003 (1878 &1887)
Russell is a hyper-Preterist and the work should be used with discernment.
Sproul, R C The Last Days According to Jesus: When did Jesus say he would return? Baker Books, Grand Rapids. 1998, 2000.
Terry, Milton S Biblical Hermeneutics: A treatise on the Interpretation of the Old and New Testaments. Zondervan Pub. House Grand Rapids. c.1880 Reprint n.d.
Walker, P W L Jesus and the Holy City: New Testament Perspectives on Jerusalem. Wm. B Eerdmans Pub. Co. Cambridge UK 1996
* * * * * * *
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